The Oldest Prophecy
by jugheadjones
Summary: Starts immediately after end of Book 7. Initially focuses on explaining unanswered questions & starts with a new Adventure whilst keeping in context with Canon facts given by Rowling since book 7. Some important OCs for the sake of Creativity & Plot. The Story continues as Real Life is not always 'Happily Ever After' but a mixture of Drama, Pain, Love & Happiness. H/G R/H OC/OC
1. Prologue

_**Disclaimer**_ : J. K. Rowling is the creator and owner of Harry Potter and majority of the characters in this story. I would like to thank her for creating such an amazing world where writers can let their imagination and creativity run amok. No intention of profit making is intended from the writing or use of her materials.

 **Prologue**

 **A/N:** _The prologue takes place immediately after the end of the Half Blood Prince_

It was a dark and dreary night... and even though the sky was clear... the stars seemed to have lost their sparkle.

It was to this sight a boy of sixteen going on to seventeen... sat laid back on the topmost branch of a very old tree with a thick trunk which stood in the centre of a huge and beautiful garden.

The boy was staring blankly at the sky... but deep in thought; his eyes looked vacant of any emotion... as if they had lost their life over the years...

He was quite tall... about six and a half feet and had a muscular build... jet black hair... and sharp features... with eyes that even though gave a blank look… were quite attentive... in fact... he could have passed on for any ordinary teenager except for the lifeless stare he was giving which made him look older than his age...

There was a slight breeze blowing across the garden and the gentle swaying of the flowers and grass would have been quite peaceful for any normal person.

The garden itself was so immense in size... that on one side of the valley in which it was situated, there was a large building that was... not quite as big as a castle... but more like a manor; while on the other side, the end of the garden could not be determined as it stretched out into a lengthy darkness...

Quite suddenly... there was a bright flash across the sky... not like lightening... but rather, like the light from a wand performing magic... but bearing a particular shape... like that of a dome. The dome formed by the flash was visible for only a few seconds before it disappeared.

Immediately, the boy in the tree felt a tremor as the tree... which was quite thick and strong... shook for the briefest of seconds causing some dried leaves to fall off.

The boy closed his eyes and waited for something... straining his ears towards the manor... listening intently.

When he heard nothing he uttered a single word under his breath,

"Bloody Hell!"

A minute later, there was a small ' _pop_ ' sound at the base of the tree... the boy looked down and saw his house-elf looking up at him with large oval shaped eyes...

Shortly after the elf's arrival... running footsteps were heard coming from the direction of the manor and in a matter of seconds his older sister... in her mid twenties... stood beside the elf, also looking up in his direction with a grim expression.

The boy climbed down and started walking towards them.

As he neared... the elf spoke first with fear and dread in his eyes, "Little Master, the field is lifted… His portrait has appeared too... beside Elder Master's…he just said to tell you... ' _do not yet leave_ '... and went out of the portrait."

The boy without showing surprise or any other emotion replied to each part of the elf's proclamation,

"Yes …

I expected as much…"

and fell silent.

His sister spoke up,

"We can leave now if we want to…"

His sister had always been the hothead... despite her age which should have made her more mature than him... always willing to fight... always ready to jump into action... just like their father. He on the other hand had been the more level headed type like their muggle mother.

Knowing full well he must choose his words and actions very carefully in order to make sure his sister followed his lead, he replied,

"Yeah … but none of the portraits are shouting… which means no good news… and that... that... bloody ' _Voldemort'_ is still alive… which is why His portrait must have said not to leave yet …" he finished in slight anger.

The little elf looked fearful at this announcement.

The boy looked towards the sky again and a couple of tears dropped down his face which he had been trying to stop... the last one falling on the forehead of the frightened elf who had by now come closer and was standing near his legs probably out of worry.

His sister suddenly caught him in a side hug; she too was silently crying which caught him by surprise. She was rarely the type to show any such weakness... but considering the person who had died was very close to the family, he could understood where her emotions were coming from.

The only words she said to explain the sudden hug were, "

He… he was an amazing man..."

A long silence followed this which was broken by the little elf,

"Master… Mistress… are you alright?"

Wiping their teary faces from the sleeves of their clothes... both siblings were dressed in muggle clothes... they looked down at the elf together and the boy replied,

"We have been waiting and dreading this day at the same time Matty... We know our responsibility... but our freedom has come at a huge cost... To this day we never fully understood why he had to do it this way..."

"Sir... you is must remember... he was a great wizard... things he did... it was for the better always..." replied Matty

"I know... but still... he….. he could... have used a Fidelius or something... Why this? Just because he didn't want us to come into the limelight early…? I don't buy that; there must be a greater motive behind his decision... And… I am going to pester the portraits for answers..." he said in a frustrated voice.

Taking a deep breath he ranted on, "He was always cryptic about answering any questions... Just kept on saying we will know when the time comes..."

After a brief silence, the boy turned to his sister as if deciding something and said,

"I know we have been destined with a responsibility... and since we promised grandfather and him... we will carry it out... But first... we must find the reason for our imprisonment… or rather ' _safety_ ' as he and grandfather used to call it... More than fifteen years of being locked up for no plausible reason is too much... I need clearer answers..."

His sister gave a crooked smile, nodded her head and replied,

"You took the words right out of my mouth little brother... Come on... let's go pester the portraits... We can also blackmail them that we will leave to go help Harry if they don't give us some straight answers..."

"Yeah… you are right Eileen... Let's go!" replied the boy.

"Wait… Master Irvine… Mistress Eileen…." Matty called to their running backs but both siblings waved their hands and kept heading towards the manor...

Irvine and Eileen entered the Manor through the back door that lead to the garden from which they had come and went straight for the main hall where numerous portraits of their ancestors were hanging. They made a beeline for their grandfather, ' _Thomas McKinnon Sr_.' and his friend ' _Albus Dumbledore'_ s' portraits.

When they got near, they saw that Albus Dumbledore's portrait was empty...

' _Must be at Hogwarts_ ' Irvine thought; however, their grandfather was wide awake and rocking in his armchair looking as happy to see them as he always was, smoking his pipe and making weird designs from the smoke.

"Hello kids! Not thinking of escaping again now that the charm has been lifted are you...?" he welcomed them with a small crooked smile just like Eileen had given a moment ago.

A pop announced the arrival of Matty in the area too... Irvine admired and hated the fact that the elf was able to apparate and disapparate willingly inside the manor grounds but he and his sister could not. Abandoning all pretence, both siblings looked at each other first... nodded... and with a meaningful stare decided to use the direct approach,

"Yes, grandfather... we have decided that our extreme training these past fifteen years will be better off for use in helping Harry Potter rather than staying hidden until Voldemort's gone and the other invisible and unknown threat that you keep talking about emerges. Think of how many people we can help if we go… the lives we may save…?" replied Eileen.

Irvine was carefully looking at his grandfather during this proclamation by her sister. He was observing his patriarchal elder's reaction to each word with one eye... while the other was fixed on the still empty portrait of Albus Dumbledore next to him.

When suddenly, his grandfather stood up... Irvine was forced to stare at him with both eyes... ' _He rarely did that_ ' was his first thought... his grandfather would never stand up unless he was about to say something very serious which in his case was a rarity... he was always found to be joking and laughing.

With both their attentions now on the portrait, the active portrait's occupant stopped smoking after standing up and started to address them both in a serious tone,

"You know I love you both; I and Albus... when he used to come here frequently... have told you this before on numerous occasions why it would be unwise for you both to show that you are alive... healthy... and to top it off... very well trained... You are one of the magical world's best kept secrets... My son and my muggle daughter-in-law gave their lives to protect you and kept you both from being discovered alive and well... a secret from the entire wizarding world... You have an important responsibility to the magical community... both… on account of your ancestry as well as the sacrifices of your parents…"

Before they could respond another voice was heard.

"Don't sell yourself short Thomas... you also did... well more than I can recount in a day... a lot for them to reach the ages that they have... learn what they know... and do what they are capable of. You children must understand, that while both of you going out now might help reinforce the fighters of the light by tenfold... your untimely deaths may cause an event from which the Light might not ever recover from..."

These words came from their grandfather's neighbour who was back in his portrait... wide awake and smiling at them in his usual annoying way... looking over his half moon spectacles with twinkling blue eyes...

"Professor Dumbledore!" both siblings exclaimed, startled at first.

Almost immediately they started to bombard him with nonstop questions upon gathering their wits,

"What happened…?"

"Who did it…?"

"Was it Voldemort…?"

"Why can't we go out now and help protect everyone…?"

"What's the point of learning so much if we can't do anything except sit and wait…?"

"We are not moving an inch from our places until you make us understand what is the point of staying here; if you don't we will leave!"

Dumbledore smiled even more and held up his hand,

" Please… please… calm down... Promise me that you two will not leave this place until I tell you... for I can no longer keep you here by force... However, in return... I promise that I will answer most of your questions... as much as are necessary to make you understand...

***POV change***

Across the continent, on a small, beautiful, tropical island, a beach house stood alone; enjoying the rays of the fading sunlight. Palm trees stood like sentinels on both sides of the house, swaying in the sea breeze that was flowing across. Huge tropical birds with red plumage were settling down for the day in the surrounding trees.

It was to this scenery, a teenage girl… nearly sixteen years old... with long and silky white blond hair lying open underneath her... laid relaxed on her back with her hands under her head on a blue beach spread. She was lost in thought while watching the sun go down over the horizon...

As soon as the sun went down completely, the girl decided to get up.

Just as she was about to avert her eyes, she saw a dome shaped flash occur across the sky, followed by a tremor in the ground.

Curious... the girl kept staring at the sky hoping it would appear again; although she kept staring thinking it may happen again... It didn't.

When no additional flashes or tremors came a second time, she sidelined it as a trick of her own imagination.

The vanishing of the light in the sky made her suddenly realize it was getting quite late and she needed to get back; usually her mother would be standing on the porch by this time beckoning her in.

Getting up she took out her wand, waved it at the beach spread… which folded itself neatly... tucked it underneath her arm, tied her hair up and started to walk back to the house.

When she entered, the only thing that met her was pin drop silence.

Thinking that as very odd, she went to the kitchen where her mother usually was found cleaning if not cooking… Or sitting in the living room drinking a cup of tea at if not busy in the kitchen at this time.

When she could not hear the soft singing that usually accompanied her mother's work routine anywhere in the near vicinity, she called out to her...

"Mum!?"

Still there was no response and only silence answered her.

Panicking and remembering the flash... the tremor... she took out her wand and ran upstairs to check her mother's bedroom.

When she arrived, she found the door slightly ajar; she strained her ear to listen from the small space and heard sniffing sounds coming from inside… her mother was crying quietly.

The girl started to panic because her mother was a strong woman and rarely cried... in fact... as far as she could remember she had only seen her mother cry once before... last year... when... when ' _father died_ '...

Alarmed... she opened the door immediately and ran in to hug her, having rarely seen her mother in this kind of state before.

After a brief moment, she worriedly in a soft voice, "Mum...!? What's going on...? Is everything ok...?"

Her mother looked up at her, surprised, as if realizing just then that she was there and hugging her in comfort. Taking a deep breath she replied with a break in her voice, "Albus… is dead..."

At first the girl did not budge or blink... too shocked at what her mother had just said... her head was spinning...

'No...!

How can that be...?

How...?

Wh… What happened...?

Was it Voldemort..?

He was the strongest wizard alive...

It's impossible...!II'

She was brought out of her thoughts by her mother's voice,

"Anna!"

She jumped and looked back at her with tears in her eyes...

"Yes…?"

"Go check your card that he gave you... See if he is there... if not... call me when he appears...

please..."

Nodding, Anna went out of her mother's room… silently crying and whispering under her breath,

"No...! No...! No...!".

***POV change***

As soon as her daughter went out... the woman who was not as old as her worried features showed... shut the door behind her, cast a silencing charm and stood against the closed door.

Immediately she started crying freely as if she had been keeping that emotion on hold and couldn't hold it in anymore... the dam broke... and she kept crying and slid along the door as if feeling helpless...

She was known for being strong... for being brave... she rarely cried... but Voldemort had changed everything... he killed her best friend and her husband and most likely now her Great Uncle...

At that moment she was not Rosalyn... niece of the greatest wizard that had lived for more than a century... but a broken woman who had lost everything she had in the blink of an eye... Any other woman might have died but she kept herself going on... only for the sake of her daughter... and a promise to her murdered best friend...

Now... only minutes ago she had seen the flash across the sky... felt the tremor in the ground... and... and she knew... she had lost her greatest protector; the only family… other than her daughter… now alive was her own grandfather... but he... poor fellow... did not yet know she was alive or that he had a beautiful great granddaughter... his memories were locked away for the time being...

All Rosalyn could do now was protect her daughter and keep her promise to her late best friend.

Gathering up her courage she got up and went to wash her face; standing over the basin she threw some water... looked up at herself in the mirror and asked herself,

"Was it worth it Rose...? I sacrificed my love and my family for the sake of my child's future... Were these past fifteen years worth it...?"

With a determined expression she said to herself, "Yes! Yes, they were!".

She wiped her face with a towel, went out to her room and made a beeline for Anna's room across from hers. As she neared her door, she raised her hand to knock but stopped suddenly upon hearing conversing voices.

She could clearly identify both... one was Anna's... she was crying but still able to talk… and the other voice belonged to ' _Albus Dumbledore_ '...

She knocked and opened the door. Anna was sitting on her bed, crying and talking to a chocolate frog card.

Rosalyn sat down beside her daughter and felt fresh tears brimming in her eyes as she saw his smiling blue eyed twinkling face look at her and say,

"Hello my dear!"

*** Chapter End ***


	2. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer**_ : J. K. Rowling is the creator and owner of Harry Potter and majority of the characters in this story. I would like to thank her for creating such an amazing world where writers can let their imagination and creativity run amok. No intention of profit making is intended from the writing or use of her materials.

 **Chapter 1**

 **A/N:** _Starts off immediately after the end of The Deathly Hallows_

"Harry!"

A voice called, just before he had reached out his hand to open the door.

Harry, Ron & Hermione turned around to look at Albus Dumbledore's portrait and Harry replied inquiringly,

"Yes, Professor?"

"Mind if you will spare some time for an old codger like me before you go have a well-deserved rest…?"

Harry smiled and nodded turning back.

"Firstly... you might think I am bursting your happiness bubble... but think of my following words similar to what my late friend Alastor Moody used to say... ' _Constant Vigilance_ '..."

Harry nodded, confused. With a smile Dumbledore continued,

"Just because one great danger has been averted... does not mean that another may not be coming... It may be today... tomorrow... next year or several years before it surfaces... but with feats you and your friends have achieved... you all will all always be called upon by fate and by people in general to be of ahead of everyone in such instances..."

"We may be grieving today... and celebrating tomorrow... but the future may hold another obstacle... and another thereafter..."

"However, that also does not imply that you stop living out of fear of the unknown. I know you hate my way of speaking in riddles but trust me, you'll understand when you become old and senile like me one day... that why it is necessary to let the person choose their own paths rather than layout everything clearly for them."

"Now… after you have eaten and are rested, I will be requesting a large combined meeting here in the castle consisting of a select few important and… let's say relevant people... Majority of them you already know and a fair few you will meet for the first time... though it will be a reunion of sorts... The meeting will be for discussion on the way forward as well as revelations of some of my darker secrets..."

"If you get time, kindly learn how to siphon memories into a pensive for future. That, will make your retelling of events much easier to recall and give a better understanding to the people whom I am proposing for you to show your memories in their entirety. Please… do remember to come when Minerva informs you the time and place..."

Again Harry nodded, while trying to fully grasp what he was hearing.

"Secondly... I was hoping if you would be kind enough to help restore the castle to its original state…? Before returning the wand...? You just saw how good it is for repairing and restoring purposes…? I would prefer... if you would also restore all the protective charms and enchantments over the school grounds with it. That would ensure that everyone rests and sleeps peacefully in this place... which is like a home for most. I am asking you to do this because it is most likely that majority of the damage to the castle was caused by dark curses and a normal wand cannot restore such types of damages so easily, swiftly and in a short time. You see… the damage caused by dark spells can only be repaired by this wand as far as I know... though the future may prove me wrong as well... one never knows. The only other way around it will be to replace the damaged portions with new material and that sort of construction will take ages... and then new enchantments will be required to be put on the reconstructed portions…"

Harry stared dumbstruck at the portrait of his late Headmaster and finally found his voice and replied,

"But Professor... I don't think I know the charms and incantations to do… that? The best I know is what Hermione taught us during this year while on the run to secure our hiding places and surroundings…?"

His blue eyes twinkling with amusement he replied,

"Ah yes, as to that I suggest you request the help of Filius and Minerva to accompany you outside to the grounds. I'm sure they'll be happy to guide and help you in restoring the castle, securing the grounds and repairing all damaged parts. As far as sealing my tomb, I suggest you request the help of WIlliam Weasley who has a lot of experience with sealing and protecting tombs."

He said the last part while staring above his spectacles and giving a meaningful stare.

Relieved to hear this... Harry nodded and Dumbledore continued,

"Meanwhile... Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger can inform the castle's occupants... especially the ones in the Great Hall... to stand well away from the places that have caved in... Been blasted open... or damaged badly; in fact... any place where maintenance is required, as a safety precaution... while the castle is being repaired and restored and keep a safe distance."

"Lastly... if anyone of you would be kind enough to request my brother to visit me here...? I would very much like to calm him down when he wakes up."

"Last I heard he was lying unconscious in the Great Hall and being tended to by one of the healers… I would like to explain my actions to him before he marches off angrily upon restoration of his memories and abilities..."

If anyone of the three found this last request bizarre to say the least, they were polite enough not to inquire into the obviously personal matter.

Without any resentment whatsoever at being asked to do more stuff after all they had been through in the past forty eight hours... with no sleep and minimal food intake... all three students waved goodbye and went out of the office to make their way towards the Great Hall.

On their way, Hermione stopped abruptly and said with a thoughtful look,

"I'll go find anyone that may be inside the castle other than the Great Hall and tell them to stay away from the damaged portions..."

Before she could leave, Harry pulled out the Marauder's map and gave it to her, to which she thanked and hugged him, gave a brief kiss to Ron and went off with the map in hand.

Upon reaching the entrance to the Great Hall, Harry stopped and said,

"Ron... I'm not feeling up to talking and facing a load of people right now... can you please go and request Professor McGonagall... Professor Flitwick and Bill to come and meet me here...? Tell them ... I'm under an Invisibility cloak..."

It was the depth of their friendship and understanding that Ron didn't even give a questioning look to the request and hurried into the Hall.

Meanwhile, Harry took out his invisibility cloak, pulled it over himself and waited. He didn't have to wait long, as in a few minutes Bill, McGonagall and Flitwick came out; though all three looked very tired… which in the present circumstances was understandable… but all three were still alert.

Even Harry was now feeling fatigued and wanted nothing more than to lie down and rest without a care in the world. However, there was still important work to be done; with that thought in mind, he spoke from under the cloak,

"Professors… Bill; its Harry! I am under the Invisibility cloak standing to your left. Will you please accompany me out into the grounds near where Hagrid's hut used to be? Professor Dumbledore wants me to perform a task for which I require all of your help and guidance..."

If they found the request surprising or wanted more information they didn't show it but instead Professor McGonagall replied,

"Move along Mr. Potter! We'll meet you there."

They had barely reached the broken steps of the castle entrance when they heard a crash as if more debris had been blasted apart or something and the sound of feet running... in fact more like pounding away in anger.

Turning around, they saw Aberforth Dumbledore looking infuriated, running angrily in the opposite direction to where Harry and the other three stood, screaming at the top of his gruff voice,

"I'll kill you Albus!"

For a moment, they looked shocked at what had transpired; near the entrance of the Great Hall, they saw a flabbergasted Ron, standing on top of the remaining half of the Hall's door... that looked to have been thrown aside...; Ron's only response to no one in particular was,

"I just did what I was told..."

Resisting curiosity to delve further into this mystery; Professor McGonagall, recovering first from the shock, took charge and said,

"Let's go!"

They turned to the task at hand and moved down the broken steps across the grounds towards the burnt remains of Hagrid's hut. As soon as they neared the destroyed cabin of Hagrid, Harry took off the cloak and turned around to face his teachers and Bill who stopped walking as well upon seeing him appear.

Harry reiterated what was required to be done… re-telling Albus Dumbledore's instructions word for word… that he had to do it and he needed their guidance and assistance to accomplish these tasks...

All three nodded, understanding finally what they were doing outside in the grounds when there was work to be done inside the castle.

It took nearly an hour; however, when Harry finished performing the last of the spells tutored by his charms and transfiguration teachers, the castle looked as good and strong as before.

"Extraordinary!" exclaimed Professor Flitwick.

"To repair normal damage I have seen and done before, but to restore things that have been destroyed with dark magic and curses is a first for me..."

Suddenly at that moment Harry swayed slightly as if about to collapse, but Bill grabbed him from the shoulder and gave him the support to stand still and not fall.

This diverted their attention from Flitwick's exclamation to Harry's health.

McGonagall looking worried said,

"Potter... you need to go and rest now!"

But Harry shook his head and said,

"Not yet Professor… there's still one last thing that needs to be done..."

With that said Harry pulled out one last bit of strength and started to walk towards the lake in the direction of Albus Dumbledore's tomb. Admiring the boy's resilience, Bill, McGonagall and Flitwick helped him along.

Upon reaching the tomb, Harry used his phoenix wand to cast a hover charm and placed the Elder wand back inside the tomb through the crack in between the tomb's top, inside the slightly visible white hands of its occupant. He then turned to address his teachers and Bill.

"Bill, Professors, we must seal this tomb with extra enchantments, curses, precautions, whatever you can think of and take the secret of those enchantments to our graves. You all being nearest to me during my last battle with Voldemort in the Great Hall heard everything and must understand why that's necessary...?"

When no apparent response came Harry continued,

"To answer your question Professor Flitwick... _that's_ how I was able to repair the castle from all that destruction caused by dark curses..."

" _This_ _is_ _The Elder Wand of old_... it belonged to Professor Dumbledore and now belongs to me; however... it is too dangerous to exist, so we must put it back from where Voldemort stole it. These are Professor Dumbledore's wishes... well... his portrait's wish that is."

Acknowledging Harry with nods, both teachers and the elder Weasley sibling stepped up while Harry moved aside and watched as their wands started to address the repairs and safety measures required.

After joining the two halves of the tomb's top at the crack in between, the teachers placed it gently in its proper position over the tomb. They even sealed the remaining gaps of the edges so that it looked like one complete piece of white marble chiselled to look like a tomb.

As they started to put various enchantments over it, the tomb started glowing; the glows kept changing colour with every different enchantment which looked quite beautiful on the white marble.

After all the years at Hogwarts and seeing the magical world, Harry was still awed at the fluid movements with which they went about the task at hand. It was like watching one of those muggle musical shows that Harry had seen on Dudley's TV once, where a leader would direct all musicians to play various harmonies in synchronization. Only in this instance, instead of music, different coloured glows around the tomb were the results of greater knowledge, experience and fluid wand movements.

Realizing he had still so much to learn, Harry decided there and then that he would fight tooth and nail to finish his schooling before fulfilling his dream of becoming an Auror.

When the final enchantment had been placed on the tomb... under which it glowed golden in colour... Professor McGonagall turned towards Harry and said,

"Place your hand on the tomb Mr. Potter!"

Harry did as instructed and the tomb turned warm at his touch and then stopped glowing altogether.

Harry looked at her inquiringly and she replied,

"Best not to ask... not knowing it will be another form of protection."

Understanding, Harry nodded and turned to go back towards the castle with Bill, Flitwick and McGonagall following in his wake.

Upon reaching the repaired stone steps of the entrance, McGonagall broke the silence and said,

"Potter, put on your cloak! I'll take you to the Gryffindor common room; I have to enforce a new password anyway. Filius, would you please request Hagrid, Kingsley and the Ministry officials to make a sweep and clear up the grounds for anything that may have been missed before locking the main gates and doors...? I believe Hagrid will also be happy to see his hut restored. Mr. Weasley, send Madam Pomfrey to the Gryffindor common room, I'll let her in when she arrives, also go tell your family Harry is safe and I'm taking him to the dormitory to eat and rest."

With nods, both Bill and Flitwick went up ahead and made their way towards the Great Hall.

Meanwhile, after placing the cloak back over himself, Harry called from under it,

"Ready Professor! I'll follow you."

She nodded in response and moved up towards the Gryffindor Tower.

Upon entering the castle they saw everything was as good as new including the ruby filled hourglasses of all four houses.

As they passed the entrance of the Great Hall, they saw that the doors were repaired and now closed.

They reached the portrait of the Fat Lady and Harry started to take the cloak off but he had barely made a tuft of his hair visible before McGonagall whispered,

"Not yet".

Harry immediately went back under the cloak and watched his Head of House.

She placed her wand lightly on the portrait, making sure not to prod the Fat Lady and said,

"I, Minerva McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor House and Temporary Headmistress of Hogwarts..."

' _Not for long dearieee_...' came the sing-song reply of the Fat Lady...

"... Request you to change the password of the entrance to the Gryffindor Halls on the other side."

"Very well… any suggestions…?" inquired the Fat Lady.

"Something to remind both friends and enemies of Hogwarts to never underestimate its power…" replied McGonagall in a good kind of proud sort of voice.

The Fat Lady thought for a moment then replied delightedly,

"I know just the thing... even though they are written all over the school... but... yes... yesss... it will suffice for now... ' _Draco Dormiens, Nunquam, Titalandus_ '"

The portrait glowed red for a brief moment and then it swung open to reveal the entrance to the common room.

As Harry climbed in, he whispered

'Professor Snape's body is in the Shrieking shack',

She nodded and replied,

"I heard you during the battle Potter... although I want to know more but... that can wait... for now don't worry I'll take care of it; meanwhile... you eat something... send for Kreacher if necessary; I'll send Poppy up to look at you before you fall asleep and make sure you are not disturbed."

"Who are you talking to? Is that Harry Potter?" exclaimed The Fat Lady in excitement but McGonagall just shushed her.

Harry whispered,

'Thank you Professor'

Harry heard her close the portrait door while he made his way up to the 7th Year boys' dormitory.

Upon entering the dorm, he saw Kreacher already waiting for him beside his trunk with a tray full of breakfast fit for a king as well as a pair of fresh, clean sleeping clothes neatly folded on his four poster bed.

Everything looked so inviting that Harry couldn't help smiling out of sheer gratitude at the elf.

Then he did something that probably shocked the little elf to no end.

He hugged and thanked him.

The elf was so stunned he did not react for a whole minute and then just smiled as his eyes focused and saw that his Master was eating by this time.

"Master, please send for me if you need anything else…" proclaimed the happy elf and vanished.

Harry was halfway through his breakfast when Madam Pomfrey came into his dormitory.

She smiled appreciatively when she saw he was eating and waited for him to finish.

When he had finished he stood up and went over to stand before the healer.

She took out her wand and started to trace it over him from head to toe including arms and hands. During this scan, she kept muttering various things which Harry either couldn't understand or he was too tired to comprehend. He only heard clearly when she would give an audible ' _Tch_ ' as if he had done something to offend her.

However, it was probably her way of showing displeasure of what she was seeing while scanning his body for injuries.

Frankly, Harry could care less what his body was telling the healer; all his eyes could see and yearn for was his bed which was visible behind Madam Pomfrey.

When she requested him to take off his shirt, she gasped quite audibly at the scars and wounds across his chest, one of which was quite large.

The round locket shaped scar looked as if the skin had burned and melted into it. However, the other large wound was new even for Harry as he had not yet seen the result of the killing curse he received in the forest.

It was shaped in a weird diagonal line across his chest reaching the torso.

The strange thing was that it did not look as if it had healed after losing blood; it just looked as if it had originated directly into a scar as if portraying remains of a deadly injury.

She looked up enquiringly at Harry and asked,

"How did you get these…?"

"The burnt skin scar is from an artefact filled with dark magic that tried to stick itself to my skin in an effort to escape from its fate of being destroyed when it realized the thing that could destroy it was nearby... This other strange reddish wound... It has the same origin as the scar on my forehead!"

Madam Pomfrey's eyes visibly widened at that and she opened her bag and pulled out two corked flasks. She opened both and one by one applied both onto his scar and wound.

From the looks and smell Harry could tell they looked like Murtlap and Dittany combined or something. Immediately his skin felt a cool sensation as they started to take effect and he relaxed slightly.

Then she took out three different vials of potions, told him to drink up all three and finally allowed him to go to bed.

Harry drank all three vials, thanked her and had barely taken a couple of steps to cross her towards the inviting bed when he suddenly lost vision and everything went black...

***POV change***

Poppy Pomfrey was putting the empty vials back in her bag when she heard the thud behind her causing her to immediately turn around. To her horror she saw Harry had fallen on the floor beside the bed, hadn't even been able to reach his clean clothes, let alone the bed.

She reached him in an instant, turned him over… scanned him swiftly with her wand for a second time... furrowed her eyebrows for a brief moment... before conjuring a patronus to send word...

' _Thank God Albus taught all of us that!_ '...

To McGonagall and one of the senior Healers from St. Mungos she knew was in the castle tending to the seriously injured.

***POV change***

Meanwhile during this time, Hermione finished informing all castle inhabitants... other than the ones in the Great Hall... including the ghosts and obtaining their help to spread the word faster about the expected repairs.

As she returned and entered the Great Hall entrance... she glanced around to find Ron or Harry but they weren't there.

She made her way towards the other Weasleys... minus Fred, Bill and Ron... who were gathered sitting together at the end of the Gryffindor table with breakfast in front of them but barely anyone was eating anything.

George was sitting on one side of his mother, with his head on her shoulders, eyes red from crying and staring blankly on the opposite wall.

Percy was sitting on the other side of Mrs. Weasley giving comfort in his own way probably by showing that he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Fleur was sitting on the other side of Percy; she had her eyes closed but it was difficult to tell if she was asleep or just resting.

Meanwhile Ginny had her head in her father's lap and also had her eyes closed sitting across from the others.

Charlie who was sitting beside George and was sipping tea... or it might have been Firewhiskey... Hermione couldn't tell since he looked quite alert... in fact he was the only one who looked up when she approached them and asked with a small smile,

"Looking for Ron…?"

With cheeks slightly pink, Hermione nodded and Charlie replied,

"He went down into the kitchens a while back to tell the house-elves to stay away from the destroyed portions of the castle while it was being repaired."

Hermione beamed at this proclamation and sat down beside Ginny and Mr. Weasley to patiently wait for Ron... making a mental note to give him an extra dose of affection for showing concern and tact… which was quite unusual in his case.

Ron came back to an enthusiastic welcome from her... much to the amusement of the other Weasleys, Hermione noted... and sat down with them. He gave a surprised look at his welcome but refrained from asking the reason.

Gradually the debris caused by the destruction vanished and the castle repaired itself, while the Hall's occupants watched everything go back to its original shape, size and structure with amazement and awe.

As the final repairs were completed to the wonder of the occupants, most of them started to drift off into a stupor due to exhaustion that was now taking over. Barely anyone had touched the food which was understandable under the scenario... so much death, loss and injury surrounded them. Everyone was still reeling from the recent events.

Only the few Aurors, some Ministry officials and a number of Healers from St. Mungos, who had arrived after the battle, looked alert and were moving about hustling and helping wherever and however they could under the guidance of Kingsley.

Within an hour of when Hermione and Ron had left Harry, the entrance doors of the Great Hall opened and Professor Flitwick, followed closely by Bill, came in.

Flitwick made a bee line straight for Hagrid, Kingsley and a couple of Aurors who were all standing near a window talking; while Bill came over and joined them informing of what had happened outside for the repairs.

Whilst listening to Bill with one ear, Hermione glanced at where Flitwick had gone. It looked like Hagrid was talking to someone outside the window... probably Grawp... when Flitwick reached them and had a quick discussion with both Kingsley and then Hagrid; when it seemed the discussion had reached a conclusion, Flitwick moved to go out of the hall again followed by the two Aurors and Hagrid.

Kingsley meanwhile moved on to talk to a Healer who was directing the other healers around the rightmost corner of the entrance where the injured were resting for the time being, as the seriously injured were now either in the hospital wing or had been moved to St. Mungos.

A few minutes later, Professor McGonagall entered the hall and made to go towards Hermione and the Weasleys; as she came near she gave them the new password to Gryffindor tower and told them to move up there and rest when they wanted to.

She talked to Arthur Weasley in a hushed tone... probably about Fred's body which was currently with all the other dead bodies in an antechamber behind the Hall... separate from Voldemort's body... then moved up to the re-formed staff table and instead of sitting moved to the dais... muttered ' _Sonorous_ ' and spoke clearly addressing the Great Hall's occupants,

"Your attention please everyone for just a moment..."

"As you may have all witnessed that the castle and school grounds have been miraculously fully restored to their original state, I am pleased to also inform you that all safety and precautionary measures that were previously keeping the castle secure are also in place..."

"Normally, this would have not been possible to do in such a small time... even if we had all tried it together... But I believe our beloved late Headmaster Dumbledore has given us one last parting gift by way of this amazing piece of magic..."

"Now, please note that all students who wish to rest in their respective dormitories... regardless whether they attended their classes this year or not may do so..."

"New passwords have and are being incorporated; Gryffindor students please ask Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley for the password, all other houses please talk to your respective heads of houses. All Alumni who recently left Hogwarts may go bunk in their respective house common rooms, arrangements will be made by the house elves if you call upon them for assistance..."

"All parents and family members of students please contact me or the temporary Minister of Magic, we will make other arrangements for you all if required... both in shape of staying as well as easy transportation to and from your homes and Hogwarts if that is what you wish... Everyone, please make yourself comfortable and rest easy for now..."

"Oh and on an important note... all those who share dormitories with Harry Potter, are requested to enter quietly, as by the time you reach I am sure he should be fast asl–"

But what she was going to say was left unsaid, as at that moment a couple of silver streaks entered the Great Hall; one went for the Head Healer who was standing near the entrance and the other went straight for McGonagall who looked shocked at first at whatever the patronus's message was to her... then suddenly any remaining colour that she still had on her tired face... vanished.

Hermione's heartbeat stopped... this did not look good.

McGonagall only said,

"Excuse me..."

Signalled to the Head Healer who was already looking at her to go on ahead... the healer immediately went out of the Hall at a very fast pace ahead of her... and leapt from the dais with the nimbleness of a cat... which was saying something considering her age... reached Hermione and the Weasleys and just said,

"Potter collapsed... Poppy just informed... She was with him!"

Suddenly she transformed into a tabby cat and leapt ahead towards the Great Hall entrance and streaked off towards the Gryffindor Common room.

Hermione and the Weasleys... including George... had already leapt up as well to follow her out; Ron, Hermione and Ginny were running ahead...

It seemed Kingsley had also joined them halfway and was having a hurried discussion with Arthur from the voices Hermione heard behind her back as they made their way up to the tower together.

No one else was saying a word but looked extremely worried with only Mrs Weasley whispering audibly,

"Not another... please... not another..."

They reached the Portrait of the Fat Lady, gave her the password and moved up to the 7th year boy's dormitories. As they climbed the last of the staircase and reached the dorm door, it opened and from inside McGonagall stepped out with her wand out... behind her was Harry lying on a stretcher which was hovering and being manoeuvred by the Head Healer that had gone ahead of her... behind the healer came Madam Pomfrey who looked quite worried.

Molly Weasley immediately spoke up with dread in her voice, "Minerva...?"

"We're taking him to the hospital wing Molly... Healer Walberg says he has drained nearly all ounce of his magical energy... not to mention he has gotten himself totally exhausted. He has gone into a sleep like coma and we need to ensure everything is done just right so that he wakes up from it by all means and at the earliest! We will be making a makeshift bed and will place him in Poppy's office as the hospital wing is already full with the slightly serious injuries... Poppy and Healer Walberg will stay within the hospital wing and castle respectively until they feel he is out of danger. Meanwhile, I'm going upstairs to have a few words with Albus' portrait; he should not have allowed the boy to do so much in one night... in the meantime... I suggest you all try to rest and leave everything in the healers' hands..."

"Nonsense... I am not going to leave that boy alone even for another minute... I'll go with Poppy... Arthur and the kids can rest and get some sleep..."

Pronounced Mrs Weasley in a tone with such finality that Minerva responded in a nod.

Hermione, Ron and Ginny looked ready to object but were immediately stopped from starting an argument by Arthur Weasley.

"You all heard; Harry is in good hands… get some rest and sleep… then everyone will be fresh enough to take turns to relieve Molly in looking after him, if required... don't worry... he is in capable hands. Healer Walberg and Madam Pomfrey will take good care of him. No arguments please… it is best for everyone this way. We cannot all stand in the hospital wing otherwise we will disturb the other patients as well."

As everyone realized that he was right, they nodded their acceptance and gave way to McGonagall, Mrs Weasley and the Healers to take Harry downstairs and to the Hospital Wing.

Hermione watched as Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Percy and George went after them, probably up to the common room. Ron and Ginny stayed behind standing on either side of her, lost in their own thoughts.

She tried to shake the worry out of her expression as best as she could and put a hand on Ginny's shoulder to comfort her and also placed a kiss on Ron's cheek in an assuring way while adding in a slightly worried and cracked voice,

"Let's ... let's leave it... in their hands... there isn't anything more we can do. If we rest and wake up early... we'll go down and see him... hopefully... no... Definitely, he'll be awake by then..."

Ginny just nodded to her but didn't move, not daring to follow her feet probably.

Ron looked up at Hermione and gave a small smile,

"You are probably right... as usual... He's pulled through much worse than this... It's just a matter of exhaustion; he'll be eating dinner with us by tonight I reckon..."

He gave a hug to Ginny who seemed to lean into his hug for more reassurance but then went downstairs after the other siblings instead of up to her dormitory.

Ron grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her into the 7th year boys' dormitory with him. At first she felt like objecting, but then she realized, what with Fred gone, Harry in a coma lying in the hospital wing, this wasn't such a bad idea.

Without a second thought about what was proper or not, both fell on Ron's bed, pulled the hangings in front and lied down in each other's arms. It was the extent of their exhaustion of over forty eight hours that overtook their desire to stay awake and worry; leading them to both fall asleep almost immediately.

***POV change***

Ginny did not know why she didn't feel like going into her dormitory.

Maybe it was because she didn't feel like being alone or going to sleep...?

Or maybe she felt she should be with Harry...?

She couldn't decide what was bothering or worrying her more; so she decided to go down to the common room to see how George and the others were doing.

When she reached the end of the stairs, she saw George curled up in front of the fireplace, lost in space but not at all sleeping.

Charlie and Percy had both settled in near him in camping beds probably conjured by transfiguring something. Bill and Fleur however, were nowhere to be seen.

She didn't feel like she could do anything more to help George right now. Percy had already exceeded expectations in that regard and was being quite overprotective of him... probably because he saw it ... happen...

In a split second she made up her mind where she wanted to go and what she wanted to do no matter the consequences. She tiptoed towards the portrait and silently slipped out without any noise or notice by her brothers.

As Ginny closed the portrait's door, the fat lady asked,

"And where are you going young Lady? Don't you know the meaning of rest?"

Ginny didn't bother to respond and made her way towards the Hospital Wing. As she neared the door, she saw her father standing outside talking to McGonagall, she stopped to wait and let them clear the area. However, only McGonagall left; her father remained standing at the door.

Sighing to herself, she made her way towards him. He didn't acknowledge her until she was barely a step or two away since he was lost in some deep thoughts of his own.

"Ginny! Why are you out and not resting...? Is everything ok...? Is it George...?"

Exclaimed Arthur when he saw his daughter whom he loved most out of all his children... although he would never admit that in front of his sons... but he did in fact do so once in front of Ginny.

"He is fine Dad; I just... I just couldn't rest... or stay away not knowing how... how Harry is!"

She replied hugging her father in order to keep him calm whilst making him understand. He hugged her back and smiled at her,

"You want to take Molly's place?"

She looked surprised at the direct approach of her father but quickly recovered and nodded with a smile.

He just replied,

"Give me a few minutes..."

And went into the Hospital Wing.

After about five odd minutes which felt like five to six times more than that to Ginny, he came out with her mother tagging behind.

She looked at Ginny curiously as if meaning to ask her something; but deciding against it, just hugged her and said,

"Go ahead, we'll be near the astronomy tower. Bill, Fleur, your father and I have been given rooms there for resting and to stay the night as well if required..."

With a wide smile Ginny hugged her mother fiercely, nodded and went in.

When she crossed the entrance she was met by Madam Pomfrey who put her finger to her lips indicating to be quiet. That's when Ginny saw how much the Wing was full and nearly all the patients were sleeping or resting.

She followed Madam Pomfrey who was quietly walking towards her office where, upon entering, she saw that her table had been transfigured into a makeshift bed and Harry was in it. It looked like he was sleeping peacefully, though Ginny did not yet fully understand his condition exactly.

Madam Pomfrey pointed towards a large arm chair on the side of Harry's bed which was large enough for Ginny to bundle herself in if necessary.

She said

"Thank you!"

And moved to settle herself in it.

As Ginny crossed Madam Pomfrey, she stopped her and said,

"Try to talk to him... It's imperative that he wakes up within the next twelve hours... otherwise... his chances to wake up will... well they will not be good as time moves on..."

Surprised, Ginny asked,

"It's that bad...? Why...? What caused this...? He was fine a while ago...?"

"I wish I could give you a complete answer Ms. Weasley... but from our discussion with Professor McGonagall after checking Mr. Potter's symptoms thoroughly... we believe he has completely and utterly exhausted all his strength… both physical and magical... It would seem that he had done so when he was outside in the grounds with Professors Flitwick and McGonagall whilst helping to repair and secure the castle..."

"However... due to his sheer will and determination he made it to the dormitory... was able to sit and eat as well... I am witness to that… but the moment a proper meal went in his already empty stomach... coupled with the potions I had given him... as well as an extremely exhausted and fatigued body... it gave way to a very dangerous collapse that has sent him into a sleep induced coma..."

"At first I was worried that one of the potions I gave him caused it; however Healer Walberg is of the opinion that they actually helped in a way... The current type of coma can be woken from... if the patient is properly cared for; however if he had slept after eating without the potions I gave him... then I daresay his coma would not have been broken by any means that we yet possess... There are a lot of such cases in St. Mungos where this extreme coma type has caused patients to stay like that for weeks... at most a year before their body completely gives in..."

"So… right now... the best we can do is making sure he wakes up from the coma within the next twelve hours... otherwise that extreme type will start to take over upon completion of each hour he stays like this. The most difficult thing is that he needs the rest and it will be very difficult for him to wake up as his mind and body will try to fight and make him rest more..."

She finished tiredly.

By the end of this speech of the matron Ginny had turned ash white out of fear and concern and just looked over at Harry... who to her was peacefully sleeping.

Resolving to do anything and everything in her power to get him out of this stasis... she nodded to the Matron as if understanding and sat down beside Harry on the large armchair.

She heard the office door quietly click indicating she had locked it and moved to the other end of the office where there was another door at the back which probably led to her own personal quarters. As it was still day time she would probably not be resting anytime soon but will look after the other injured patients outside in the main wing.

When the matron left; at first... Ginny only stared at the sleeping form of the boy she loved so much... it was difficult to even explain what she felt.

How time had flown ever since she had seen this scrawny boy with untidy hair on his first day to school standing lost and asking her mum how to get on to platform 93/4... What he had been forced to go through during his next seven years in the wizarding world was beyond anyone's wildest imagination... yet here he was today... having successfully defeated one of the most feared dark wizards of the last two generations... lying weakened… but still alive.

Ginny had not been able to help him in his last stretch of the journey... because of his over-protective nature... which made Ginny want to strangle him and love him more at the same time and that made no sense whatsoever... the fact that she had a trace on her... which would only go away after she turned seventeen... she knew it would have hampered Harry, Ron and Hermione in their task... whatever the hell it was... Although... from their outset... when they came back to Hogwarts and she saw them... it didn't look like they had been on any vacation.

But now, things were different... and enough was enough... neither was Ginny going to let any stupid trace keep her away from him... nor let any protective nature of Harry's allow him to distance her... Her mind was made up... she was going to take it upon herself now to make the most of this new life that Harry had been given... after the threat the wizarding world had faced for so long was finally gone.

She pulled her chair towards his make shift bed so that it was touching the bed and took his white pale hand in hers.

He didn't move... he stayed like a statue in the same posture with only a slight movement of the chest confirming that he was still alive and breathing. She placed a hand on his forehead and swept his untidy hair out of the eyes and forehead.

Then, she leaned in closer and started to speak quietly into his ear,

"Hi...! Don't know if you can hear me... Madam Pomfrey says you can... but... it would be better if you can give some sort of signal that you are hearing me... otherwise it's a one sided affair... and I can't hit you... or take my year's worth of frustration out if you stay like this..."

Merlin knew for how many hours Ginny kept talking quietly and resiliently to the dormant form of Harry... without taking any sort of break other than for breathing. It was as if she had been possessed by this obsession that she was the one who could and must wake him up and make him acknowledge her or else all that he had been through would be for nothing.

***POV change***

Minerva McGonagall knew she was old and not fit to take on the Headmistress responsibilities for a long stretch of period; however, current circumstances required her to be that and she was willing to do it… for the time being.

Immediately after talking to Arthur Weasley outside the hospital wing, she made her way to her new office to discuss in length what had transpired with Albus Dumbledore's portrait.

Although; she knew not to be surprised if he already knew of Potter's condition, considering the number of previous Headmasters and Headmistresses portraits that were in that office who had access to nearly the whole castle. When she entered, sure enough the portraits were in an uproar talking to each other across the room in full force without a care in the world.

She cleared her throat ... though unlike Umbridge who used to do it very irritatingly... and the portraits immediately stopped talking.

She made her way to the Head's chair, sat down and turned to look at Albus Dumbledore who was not asleep but definitely awake and as expected waiting for her.

"Albus... you know what has happened to Harry...?"

She asked to which he replied,

"Yes, I just found out."

"Albus... did you know that performing all those enchantments on the castle would drain him to a near death state...?"

She asked with pursed lips.

"I'm afraid not Minerva... however, I am still to blame... You see... I made a grave mistake of forgetting that he must have already used up most of his magical energy during the battle... As I have admitted before... when I tend to make mistakes... although rare in occurrence... but I do make them like anyone else... they tend to be slightly bigger and graver in nature..." replied the Headmaster.

"WHY WOULD YOU NOT CONSIDER THAT? YOU OF ALL PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW ALBUS THAT WHATEVER YOU SENT HIM OFF TO DO MUST HAVE TAKEN A TOLL... COULDN'T THE RESTORATION HAVE WAITED ONE DAY...? NEVER IN MY ENTIRE YEARS OF KNOWING YOU HAVE I SEEN YOU MAKE SUCH A MISTAKE...?"

Berated Minerva McGonagall with not so much as a care that that the person at whom she was nearly shouting was Albus Dumbledore in whom she trusted more than any other person.

But before he could reply, the anteroom door of the office upstairs that led to the sleeping quarters burst open and out walked Aberforth Dumbledore, wand out in one hand and a very old, dirty book with dark black covers open in the other,

"What's the matter...? Has something else happened Minerva...? Why are you shouting...?"

Before McGonagall could enquire what he was doing in her office, Albus Dumbledore spoke,

"Abe... if you have calmed down and are willing to listen I would like for you to sit down and let me explain my actions..."

While Aberforth gave a dirty look to his brother's portrait, he grudgingly came down and sat opposite Professor McGonagall on one of the guest seats, all the while clutching at the book as if his life depended on it.

"Meanwhile... Minerva... even though it was a mistake to allow Harry to restore the castle and security charms before resting... I assure you _the restoration was extremely necessary_ ; however... I can also assure you that Harry will pull through from his predicament because of his power... Love! Trust Me! ... He has a lot of that available... I have already contacted an _Unspeakable_ at the Ministry and what requires to be done from our end will be done. Of course... the will of Harry to get up is still his own..."

Said Albus Dumbledore turning towards McGonagall who relaxed only slightly at hearing this but did not retort immediately and just asked tersely,

"Why was it ' _extremely necessary_ '?"

With a small sigh the portrait replied,

"Because it is not yet completely safe. There is an equally vile if not larger threat out there of which I will tell you soon when all who are required to be available are sitting in one place, I promise. Now please, do not fret over this matter and take care of the other issues that require your attention in the Great Hall where, I believe Kingsley... although is doing an admirable job of placating everyone... does require your assistance to calm everyone down."

Minerva got up and went to the entrance door of the office, as she left she heard Albus Dumbledore starting to speak in a kind, quiet voice with a bit of pleading note,

"Abe... I won't explain in detail since it concerns a lot of other people who I think need to be present for me to tell everything, just like I requested Minerva... However, please bear with me for now to listen to just the crux of the matter. Then you may burn my portrait if that will make you feel better..."

She closed the door at that, tuning out the conversation.

***POV change***

Ginny had fallen asleep in that uncomfortable position of half on the chair, half on his bed; her head had fallen on the pillow beside Harry's head probably due to exhaustion for consistently speaking into an unmoving unresponsive Harry's ear.

Not knowing how many hours had gone by since she had started her long conversation with Harry, Ginny woke up from a stitch in her side... which when she opened her eyes was due to how awkwardly she had fallen asleep...

Just as she straightened up, her father walked in from the back door... where the Matron had previously exited from... with another tall, hooded wizard behind him wearing dark brown robes with half his face almost hidden in the hood's shadow and the remaining part that was visible... in the room's light... showing an emotionless face.

When she looked questioningly at her father he just smiled, placed an assuring hand on her shoulder whilst moving to stand behind her.

The tall wizard moved towards Harry, took out an old worn out black rain boot from inside his long overcoat... or were they robes... Ginny couldn't tell... touched it with his wand and without uttering an incantation out loud the boot glowed blue for a brief few seconds... he then grabbed Harry's hand while touching the boot and vanished.

Ginny sprang up in shock with her wand out screaming obscenities she would not have dared say in front of her father under normal circumstances.

Madam Pomfrey came streaking into the office running and looking scared... probably having heard the screaming... She looked at the empty bed, then at a shocked Ginny with her wand out and asked fearfully,

"What happened? Where's Harry?"

*** Chapter End ***


	3. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer**_ : J. K. Rowling is the creator and owner of Harry Potter and majority of the characters in this story. I would like to thank her for creating such an amazing world where writers can let their imagination and creativity run amok. No intention of profit making is intended from the writing or use of her materials.

 **Chapter 2**

Arthur Weasley had barely opened his lips to reply when just as surprisingly as the wizard had kidnapped Harry, he came back again, this time carrying Harry in his strong arms.

The wizard laid down Harry gently back on the bed, nodded to Arthur and left as swiftly as he had come from the front door a few minutes ago without even looking at the shocked Matron standing at the back door and the young red haired witch who was looking angrily at him, her wand pointed alertly still in his general direction.

"Ginny!" he spoke up.

"It's ok... Harry is fine. That was an Unspeakable from the Ministry... here on orders from the Minister and Dumbledore... Albus had requested them to do this... Please sit down and I'll explain as much as I know and understand what they explained to me..."

Ginny calmed down slightly, stowed away her wand and sat back down on the arm chair, taking Harry's hand back in hers without a single trace of bashfulness on her face.

Madam Pomfrey also gave a slight nod as if listening.

"From what Kingsley and the Unspeakable told me... Harry is one of the few people alive who can enter... ' _The White Room_ '... as we are used to calling it at the Ministry... what is beyond that door is anyone's guess but from what I gathered... it has something to do with the study of... love! As far as Harry being able to go through... they said that Harry's mother's sacrifice to invoke an old and ancient magic for his protection is very rarely achieved... since the person sacrificing themselves has to be completely willing to do it without an ounce of selfishness... If Lily Potter had not been fully committed to her selfless act... it is highly possible the killing spell would not have backfired and Harry would not be alive today... It is also believed...from what I gathered from Albus' explanation... that such powerful magic... when invoked from the purest form of emotion i.e. love... more specifically a mother's love... and performed without a wand... is extremely potent... furthermore... Dumbledore also said something weird; he said that Harry had also successfully performed the same magic as his mother with the visible exception of not dying as a result of it..."

"I don't know what he meant by that, honestly... so... Albus and the Unspeakable believe... it allows Harry to pass through that door... having had the experience of being on both ends of that powerful magic whose baseline is of _unconditional love_... As to how that will help him get out of that coma is still a mystery to me I'm afraid... Albus remains mum on the topic as does the Unspeakable who simply said, ' _Doing a favour for Dumbledore_ ' and Kingsley is as clueless about it as me...!" he explained.

Madam Pomfrey after listening had a thoughtful look on her face and she strode over to Harry's bed and scanned his body from Head to toe with her wand. Upon finishing she looked up with an amazed expression and said, "His magical energy... is... completely restored... How is that possible...? Never in my whole career have I seen such an amazing thing...? But... he is... still... in a coma..."

"I don't know Poppy... all we can do is wait and hope that he wakes up soon..." he answered with a sad expression on his face whilst looking at the boy his family had figuratively adopted over the past seven years.

Then... realizing as if he had also come for another purpose he asked Ginny, "I came to tell you it is supper time... you can come and have something to eat now or wait till dinner as the food will be kept warm till late in order to accommodate everyone... plus the fact that people will be getting up from their various rests at different times feeling hungry... we are expecting a lot of guests tonight as well including people from the village who came to help in the end... or... do you want me to send you something from the Hall...?"

"No dad... I... Is it really been that long...? ... No you go ahead... I'll eat late... I'm going to try and wake Harry up by any means necessary... it's been eleven hours now and... well... I'll be damned if I let him leave me again three times now... Twice the scare he gave me was more than enough to last a lifetime..." replied Ginny.

Arthur nodded and probably thought better of asking what she meant. As far as he knew they hadn't been together, but from the looks of things and her words, that seemed to be the wrong assumption. Initially he had allowed her to replace Molly because he thought she wanted to be able to do something having been away from the trio. But this looked like something else entirely.

So with a small, crooked and curious smile on his face, he decided to leave, mentally reminding himself to ask Molly for some answers on this.

***POV change***

Madam Pomfrey left too after telling Ginny to call her in case of anything, reminding her to start talking to him again to which she nodded. When she left, Ginny looked back again at Harry's sleeping form, stood up and went to stand near where his head was, still keeping one of his hand in hers. She bent down and said slightly angrily in Harry's ear,

"Harry Potter... if you have been listening and still haven't woken up you should expect a very powerful bat-bogey hex waiting for you... and if you haven't then listen to me very closely... whatever it is that you are seeing or looking at... it is not real... what is real is that you have defeated Tom... you have survived... you have saved a lot of people from an untimely death at the hands of a murderer... you have friends and family here that need you now to live and enjoy this peace that you have made possible fighting together with them... most importantly... I let you leave me last year when I did not want to... but knew... it was what was necessary at that point... then you slipped past me again in that infernal invisibility cloak of yours... oh yes... I knew that was you the moment I saw your dead body in Hagrid's hands... but you came back to us... to me... and... enough is enough Harry Potter!"

"Wake up! "

"Your friends need you... your godson needs you... I need you!"

Tears were now streaming down her face... which was a rarity for Ginny as she didn't cry very easily... and she kissed him on the lips with as much love as she could convey through it... hoping against hope... that he would respond...

And respond he did... whether instinctively or having actually woken up Ginny did not know or cared but he was kissing her back... doing it so passionately she did not feel she could let go or open her eyes... However... her tears were now of joy... instead of desperation and melancholy...

***POV change***

Harry had just thanked Madam Pomfrey and turned around, heading towards his beautiful and inviting four poster bed, when the lights around him went out.

It felt like he was falling through a dark chasm with nothing in his surroundings, not even an iota of light to allow his eyes to adjust.

To Harry it seemed like he had been falling for hours before he was back at Kings Cross station... however... this was not a King's Cross Station from his last visit... the whole place looked dark and gloomy as if all light and happiness had been sucked out of the place...

The structure Harry noted... was the same... the train tracks were the same... the huge columns were the same... even the bench where he previously sat on and talked to Dumbledore was the same... however... the place felt like... like... death...

Harry shuddered at the thought that maybe the Dementors had invaded this place or something.

As there was no end to the station on both sides, Harry could not see very far into the darkness, whether up at the dark ceiling from where he had dropped, to the nonexistent ends of the station.

The only light that still came as a glow was from that bench. It was this glow which was allowing him to see just enough of the place to recognize what it was.

Harry sat down... because he felt not at all adventurous to go and have a look around... he felt drained and empty as if he was running on fumes or something... his breathing was also ragged and strained... he felt he might collapse here as well... he felt so weak.

Maybe someone will come like last time... maybe Dumbledore will show up again and tell him what's going on... so he waited sitting there looking at both sides... trying to make out any sort of movement...

After what seemed like hours to Harry... of doing absolutely nothing... he felt so tired he wanted to just go to sleep... so he shifted and tried to find a comfortable position to lie down.

As soon as he had lied down and barely closed his eyes... he heard his name... someone was calling him... he tried opening his eyes but they were fighting back with him... as if in anger... for not letting them rest.

"Harry!"

There it was again... he opened his eyes with all his might and saw a beautiful red haired woman standing over him... she immediately smiled the most brilliant smile Harry had ever seen... it was then that he noticed that she had the same eyes as him and his immediate response was just one questioning word...

"Mum...?"

She nodded and offered a hand to help him up which he immediately took.

He was awed... he could touch her...?

He sat up and she in turn sat down beside him on the space he had vacated.

Harry just stared blankly with an amazed expression on his face for a while... a million thoughts and questions swirling in his head... finally he was able to only say... "How...?"

She just smiled at him... grabbed him... pulling him into the most amazing hug Harry had ever experienced.

And then quite suddenly... the dam broke and Harry cried... cried like he had never done before.

It was as though all the anguish, pain, loneliness he had felt over the last seventeen years was being drained by the hug and seeping away through his tears.

After what felt like forever, his tears stopped and he thought to break apart, to look up at her and talk but he did not have the strength to do it; or maybe he just didn't feel like letting go... the hug was so addictive, Harry couldn't decide.

It was his mother however, who took the initiative and with hands on both his shoulders, pulled him back to look at his face more clearly and closely.

The same green eyes that had been most talked about throughout the wizarding world for the past sixteen years, now stared back at each other displaying an amazing bond of love that only a mother and child could share.

Finally Lily's lips parted and she spoke.

Harry felt a familiar chill down his spine at hearing her voice. It felt more amazing than when he had heard her speak on previous occasions like the Dementor incidents... Priori Incantatem incident... and even the resurrection stone incident...

"Sweetheart... I am so proud of you! You have done so much that a full grown up could not have achieved and what others could only dream of achieving... Your father is also extremely proud and we shall be united one day but hopefully not very soon... I wish I could stay and talk to you for hours on end... however... as fate would have it... I cannot... as it will endanger you more if you stay here any longer... It's not healthy..."

Harry felt weak again.

Why couldn't he stay here?

Why couldn't he talk to her for hours on end?

How was this fair that the one moment he does get to meet his mother when he is all grown up... he can't even talk to her properly...?

However, the look of anguish on his mother's face told him that he couldn't even begin to imagine her pain of being denied this eventuality. So sucking up, Harry just replied, "Its fine... at least... at least I got to see you... and talk to you like this..."

She grabbed him in a tight hug again at his words, probably out of love for his resilience and understanding, then let go and immediately started to speak again.

"Harry... you are once again at the precipice between life and death... why I came here today and not Albus or even James is because I believed only I could convince you not to join us so soon... I must confess... I feared that seeing me... you might be more inclined to move on... however... I'll try my best to make you understand why it is not yet your time and that you should not give in to your instinct to follow me..."

He nodded but stayed silent.

"Firstly... you must understand that it is unprecedented to be allowed a chance to return back... like which you have been given before and now again... twice in the last twenty four hours... You are unique in this way because of an ancient magic in you... it has remains of a power that only an act of true love can provide... however... I also believe this is the last time you will have this option... next time... I hope there is no next time for a long, long while... you may not be lucky enough for a stopover at this juncture..."

Harry then broke the silence with a voice of an angry and rebellious teenager, "But why...? I don't want to have this specialty... I've done what I was required to do... the world is safe from Voldemort's threat... why can't I die in peace and finally join you and dad and Sirius...?"

She sighed and with a renewed vigour it seemed to Harry, spoke again with as much love as she could possibly emanate through her soft voice,

"My dear child... we will always be here waiting for you and are always with you in your mind and heart... but we did not sacrifice our lives so that you would also live a short one... yes... we knew the prophecy... but we did not know what its exact meaning was until you fulfilled it..."

"A parent's first priority is to ensure that their child is well provided for in terms of everything... be it health... love... advice... or any other necessities of life and that they live long... loved by the ones dear to him or her... you have no idea the joy we will feel... knowing ... that you survived... that you are going to have a chance to be living a long and healthy life and will someday have a family of your own... that is when our sacrifice will have meaning... and not just ours... everyone who has died helping you to achieve what you have achieved will feel happy and content knowing that you made the most of the chance you and everyone alive has been given..."

Tears streaming down his cheeks freely, without shame, Harry just closed his eyes as if bringing his resolve to accept his mother's words.

"Now... my time with you is almost up... and I need to fulfil my duty of why I have appeared to you as you see me and what I have to offer... I just want to tell you a few things before making that offer..."

"Remember well... Life... will not be as easy as in fairytales and story books if you choose to live and grow old like I want you to... just because one threat is gone... it is no guarantee that another won't come up during your lifetime... however... where there is loss... despair... hate... and anger... there is also hope... love... happiness... smile and laughter... Life... is a mix of all these things and every person has the right to live their lives to the fullest in order to experience this one complete adventure filled with various experiences... Then... and only then... will you enjoy moving on to the next big adventure that is death... If you don't... the regret of not being able to do something will leave you stranded midway... do you understand...?"

Harry wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and nodded.

"So... my beautiful child... will you choose to follow me or would you like to go back...?"

With a deep sigh Harry replied, "If... if you think it will be good for me... to... to go back and experience all those things and that I should honour all the sacrifices made till date to allow me that... including yours and dad's... then I'll... I'll go back..."

At that exact moment when Harry said those words, the whole platform became instantaneously white and welcoming, just like when he met Professor Dumbledore here before.

His mother smiled even more at this change, whispered 'Love you my son' and gave him another hug.

However, as soon as Harry had hugged her back she vanished in a wisp of smoke.

Knowing not when or how he would return, he sat back on the bench and closed his eyes, trying to remember her as vividly as possible, trying to entrench her memory in his mind. Harry knew now that this memory would for a long time allow him to conjure one of the brightest patronuses in wizarding history.

It was then that Harry heard another familiar voice emanating inside the whole station. The epicentre of the voice seemed to be Harry himself for some odd reason; it was the strangest feeling he had ever had.

He tried to concentrate and hear what the voice was saying and to whom it belonged to. As much as he wanted, he could not fully understand the speech of the voice so he tried to concentrate even harder with his eyes shut tightly.

Finally he heard these words, ' _enough is enough Harry Potter! Wake up! Your friends need you... your godson needs you... I need you!_ ' and felt a tug in the pit of his stomach when he realized who it was.

' _Ginny!_ '

Suddenly he felt her lips... she was kissing him... well who was he to think how and why...?

With his eyes still closed... he responded with enthusiasm... finally he stopped for air and tried opening his eyes.

It took a while for his eyes to adjust and then everything cleared.

Ginny had put his glasses on him.

The first thing he saw was her tear streaked... though still beautiful... smiling face and then she was hugging him like there was no tomorrow.

When she released him, he looked around at his surroundings and saw that he was in the Hospital Wing but only the ceiling proved him right.

Harry had never seen this room before.

As Ginny regained composure, she ran to the door on his other side, opened it and called someone.

She came back with Madam Pomfrey following her hurriedly who exclaimed, "Finally... Mr. Potter! You had us all worried... I thought I might have made matters worse with the potions I gave you... How are you feeling...? Can you move...? Do you feel drained...? Tired...? Feeling exhaustion or pain...?"

Harry tried to move and felt no hindrance; he sat up and felt all his limb movements. Internally he wasn't feeling any pain now. After checking everything as the matron had asked he replied with a small smile, "I'm good Madam Pomfrey... just... still sleepy... and slightly hungry..."

"Well... still... I would feel better if Healer Walberg checked and confirmed it... I'll go get him." She said and strode out of the room.

It was then that Harry realised he was actually in the Matron's office and on a makeshift... probably transfigured... bed. His gaze shifted to the red haired girl sitting on his left... looking at him with a curious expression... wondering what was going through her mind he asked, "What...?"

Ginny jerked slightly as if shaken out of her stupor and replied, "Oh... umm nothing... well... just wondering how much... did you hear or listened while I was talking to you...?"

Confused Harry replied, "What do you mean how much...? How long had you been talking to me...?"

Before she could answer, the door opened and in walked Ron, Hermione, Madam Pomfrey and another wizard dressed in healer robes, probably Healer Walberg, Harry assumed. However, before the healer could get his turn, Hermione had enveloped him in a hug and Ron was smiling standing beside her. Finally Madam Pomfrey edged ahead, tapped Hermione on the shoulder and said, "Miss Granger please let Healer Walberg take a look at Mr. Potter...? Then you may suffocate him..."

Hermione blushed but moved aside to let the Healer through. Harry saw a small smile on Madam Pomfrey's face which made him smile too in return upon realizing she was teasing Hermione.

As the bystanders watched, Healer Walberg moved forward, held out a hand to Harry and smiled while introducing himself; Harry smiled, nodded and shook the offered hand.

Then turning all businesslike, the healer performed various checks of his body with his wand, muttering various unknown incantations.

Finally he requested Harry to stand up, walk and lift hands and feet one by one, whilst he performed checking of all his various movement abilities.

When he was fully satisfied, he turned to the Matron and said, "Well Poppy... I believe you were right in assessing that he has quite miraculously fully recovered in terms of magical strength... however... as far as his physical strength and emotional state is concerned the next few days will give a clearer picture... normally... I would suggest that he stays in the hospital wing and rests so he can be monitored; however under the circumstances he may be allowed to go subject to daily updates on his sleeping pattern... and him being accompanied by someone at all times for support with administration of controlled dosage of dreamless sleep potions based on need and necessity."

Madam Pomfrey nodded and showed Healer Walberg through the door after he finished saying farewell to the room's other occupants.

Closing the door she turned around and faced Harry with a stern expression, "Well Mr. Potter... did you understand everything that the healer said or shall I repeat in words that'll make a better impact on you...?"

Harry looked straight back at her and after thinking for a few seconds replied, "Well... I understood that I have recovered my magical strength but... not my physical strength entirely... however... I can move about with support from others and perform magic... but I didn't understand his comments about my emotional state... Does he think... that... that I am going to explode or go senile or something...?"

Madam Pomfrey nodded as if understanding and replied in a kinder voice, "Harry... I don't know the full extent of what you have been through this past year... however... just by remembering last night's events I can safely assume none of it was pretty... For any of you I might add..." She said the last part while looking at the others too and continued, "For that purpose I have requested the Healers of ST. Mungo's to help and assess with the emotional state of all the participants of the battle... You will all experience the ramifications of the trauma witnessed in the battle in shape of nightmares... breakdowns... etc... So... you are required to come straight to me or any healer available nearest to you... no matter the time of day or night... We cannot give you dreamless sleep potions without knowing your issues and medical histories..."

Harry was frowning as if trying to digest and understand what the matron had just said and then nodded and replied, "I understand... but I cannot stay here Madam Pomfrey... Please let me go back to the common room and I promise in case of any sleepless nights... nightmare or anything... I will come straight to you..."

Madam Pomfrey surveyed him for a minute, considering his words then nodded and said, "Fine... You may go... But heed me well Mr. Potter... just because you have miraculously woken up does not mean you may not fall again... I recommend you do not perform large forms of magic for at least a day... eat properly and timely and do not move about for more than a couple of hours a day for three days with more priority given to rest... This is in addition to your emotional assessment which we will monitor on a daily basis along with the others..."

Harry responded with a nod, smiled and said "Yes Ma'am!"

Just then Ron spoke up, "Great, let's go have something to eat. I'm starving; nearly slept through dinner."

"Yeah that would have been a tragedy Ron..." replied Ginny rolling her eyes.

Harry caught Hermione's eyes and smiled alongside her at the sibling banter.

All four moved out of the hospital wing and made their way at a leisurely pace probably for Harry's sake towards the Great Hall.

Ron, who was walking with Hermione ahead of him and Ginny, was holding Hermione's hand very tightly Harry noticed, as if she would run away. Restraining himself from teasing him, he looked sideways at the red haired girl walking beside him. To his surprise, she was already looking back at him, but her expression was not quite readable. He raised his eyebrows at her questioningly and got a similar non verbal response as if saying ' _Don't you know?_ '

Realizing they needed to talk, Harry called to Ron & Hermione's back, "You guys go ahead... we'll join you in a few minutes..."

Both stopped and turned around with inquiring looks at this announcement.

"Ginny and I need to talk... Alone..." responded Harry to their inquiring looks.

Understanding dawned on Hermione first who just formed an ' _O_ '; however Ron just stared curiously at both as if inquiring what this was about.

But before he could form any words for speech, Ginny said, "Move along Ron, it's none of your business."

At that Ron decided... probably wisely... not to confront or respond to her sister and allowed Hermione to drag him forwards whilst still staring curiously back at his best friend and sister.

When they were gone from sight, both entered a nearby classroom and closed the door. Inside, both stood in front of each other staring into the other's eyes; Harry didn't know how long they both stayed that way, but it was of no concern to Harry as he was lost in those chocolate brown eyes of hers. In fact he was so lost he registered quite late when she slammed into him, directly into his chest to be exact and started beating it with her fists.

' _Thank god for the salves of Madam Pomfrey_ ' Harry thought ' _which were keeping the impact of her fists to a bare tickle; otherwise her fists would be pounding on his wounds and scars_ '.

Harry was lost in the matter of how to react and decided to keep his eyes tightly shut and wait it out, hopefully she would tire soon. Finally when she did tire out and stopped pounding, Harry looked down and saw her tear strained, red eyed face staring back at him. He tentatively brought up his hand and gently cleared her eyes; she didn't object.

' _That was a good sign_ ', thought Harry.

Worried about the exact words to use in asking the reason for the beating he just got, he tentatively started, "Ummm... that was for leaving you?"

Immediately her eyes flared up and she exclaimed, "No you prat... that was for pretending to be dead and then nearly dying again after saving the world!"

Realization dawned on Harry and he just mouthed, "Oh..."

"OH?"

"That's all you have to say?"

"OHHH?"

"Do you have any bloody idea what I went through seeing your lifeless body like that in Hagrid's hands?" she said again pounding at his chest.

"What I felt when McGonagall announced that instead of resting in your bed you had collapsed and were in a coma induced sleep?" exclaimed the red head in front of him.

"If it makes this any better, I only did one of those things on purpose" replied Harry meekly.

"What do you mean on purpose?" she asked curiously, but Harry stopped her, "I promise I will tell you absolutely everything, better yet I'll find a way to show you everything in a pensieve if you will forgive me for doing that and wait until I decide to tell."

Ginny was quite for a while, staring at him as if scrutinising whether to accept the deal or not, then nodded her head.

Taking this as a positive sign, Harry started to touch the topic of their breaking up, "Ginny... about last year... I'm sorry I left the way I did... without clearly explaining my reasons... and you accepting them without knowing them entirely... but I would really like to get back with you... if... if you want to that is..."

He stared worriedly at her, waiting for a response, trying to understand her expression.

Just then, she burst out laughing and said, "You really are unbelievable, Harry Potter."

"What do you think my answer would be after the way I sat beside you in your coma... after kissing you when you woke... after beating you up for leaving me...? Of course I want it..."

That was all Harry need to hear, he closed the gap between them and kissed her as passionately as he could.

Then breaking the kiss he said, "Shall we go to the Great Hall then?"

With a smile Ginny replied, "Oh no Mr. Potter... not so fast."

"First... you need to tell me what should be your punishment...? And how do you plan to atone for your mistake...?"

"What punishment...?"

"Which mistake...?"

Harry asked quite daringly, teasing her.

"Which mistake?" she repeated his words and took out her wand, eyes twinkling with mischief too.

"Oh that mistake..." replied Harry grinning with his hands up in surrender.

Ginny lowered her wand and smiled at his cheek.

"Yes that mistake... What do you have to say for yourself...?"

"Ummmm... Sorry...?" inquired Harry submissively.

"Oh no you don't Potter... Sorry won't cut it..." replied Ginny while standing in front of him with her arms crossed and wand still in her hand.

Harry couldn't help notice how alluringly beautiful she looked in that posture, wearing a snug v-neck top and denim pants.

"Oiiii! Snap out of it Potter... I'm waiting..." said Ginny though she didn't look angry but amused at his antics.

Harry actually shook his head to clear it of all ' _thoughts_ ' which were not right for the current circumstances and replied, "Errrr... Is there a way of not being subjected to the Bat-Bogey Hex or whatever it is you are planning on doing to me for leaving you...?"

With a mischievous grin, rivalling those of the twins she replied, "Oh I have a few ideas in my mind; for now I want you to..." and she whispered something in his ear, upon which what little colour was there in his face, drained away and he exclaimed, "You're joking!"

"That's murder Ginny!"

"No thanks... I'll take the Bat-Bogey Hex!"

Ginny smiled even more broadly at his exclamation and discomfort and replied, "As if you have a choice now Potter..."

"Do it, or else I walk and you won't get a chance to be with me ever again..." She said the last part in such assurance and finality that Harry felt scared.

He thought for a while, staring at her beautiful silhouette and then grudgingly replied, "Fine..."

Ginny beamed at him... which lifted his heart a little... kissed him lightly on the lips standing on tip toe and continued, "No running away this time... no matter what..."

She took a firm hold of his hand... which felt so good to Harry... and they walked on towards the Great Hall.

All along the walls, the various occupants of the portraits they passed were either cheering at him, thanking him and some even bowing to him in appreciation. Slightly more discomforted at this treatment he hurried his pace. When they reached the entrance, they were met by Peeves; immediately out of habit both pulled out their respective wands expecting a prank. However, surprisingly, Peeves bowed to Harry with a smile... which looked out of place on the usual evilly grinning and singing poltergeist... and opened both doors for them. With a bewildered expression, Harry thanked him and went inside thinking it must be his way of appreciation for restoring the place Peeves... like so many others... called home.

As they entered, Harry saw that the house colours were not hanging over each table; in fact the whole hall was draped in black with large Hogwarts crests embezzled on them signifying unity and mourning. Just as he was admiring the show of unity, Harry noticed the hall had gone deathly silent at their entry, and then restarted buzzing after a few seconds of silence with smiles on the people's faces at his appearance. Harry was grateful no one had gotten up to congratulate or clap. He didn't feel like taking in any sort of congratulations as it felt too soon to rejoice.

He was also extremely nervous at the prospect of doing what the red haired girl walking beside him... his hand firmly held in hers... had asked him to do...

As they neared their usual places at the Gryffindor table, they saw the Weasleys sitting at the end near the teachers. Bill and Charlie beckoned them over near them where there were empty seats in between the rest of Gryffindor students and the Weasley family.

The pair sat down opposite Ron, Hermione, George, Molly and Percy; whereas on their one side Neville was sitting and Charlie, Bill, Fleur and Arthur Weasley at the other side.

It was Molly who spoke first, "How are you feeling dear...? It's good to see you up and about... you had us worried... collapsing like that... It was such a relief finding out from Healer Walberg that you had woken up and could move... you must be hungry... here have some pie..."

"Thank you... Mrs Weasley and sorry for worrying you..." replied Harry, embarrassed at her show of love in such a way despite having lost one of her sons mere hours ago.

For some reason Harry didn't object to her putting food on her plate which she had started upon hearing his reply.

As he looked around, he saw that George's plate was also nearly as full as his... probably also filled by his mother... but the plate had slightly cold food which looked more like played with than eaten. Even though Harry felt like following George's example of not eating, his stomach had other plans and it rumbled with hunger. Also, the sight of Ron eating and Ginny nudging him to start made him pick his utensils and start eating.

As soon as food went down his throat he relaxed, realizing it was a good thing he decided to eat rather than mope. Finally when they had finished and the goblets and plates had been cleared, Professor McGonagall stood to address everyone.

The hall fell silent; it was then that Harry noticed that there were extra people sitting at the Head table in addition to the teachers, including Aberforth Dumbledore, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Healer Walberg and Professor Griselda Marchbanks... whom Harry remembered was in-charge of conducting OWLS and NEWTS... and a member of the Wizengmot that Harry remembered from his trial in fifth year...

Just then the voice of Professor McGonagall brought Harry out of his thoughts.

"It is with mixed feelings and emotions that I stand here today to address you all... I feel an immense amount of sorrow at the losses that have occurred... however, I also feel relaxed and safe, knowing that through unity, perseverance and the blood of the fallen, we have been rid of the threat of Lord Voldemort for good this time..."

"There will be time to mourn our loved ones that we have lost; however being as old as I am and based on my experiences... I urge you all to not forget to live life to the fullest as it has been given to you through these precious losses... live your lives exactly the way those people would have wanted you to live... as a mark of gratitude for their ultimate sacrifices..."

"I am thankful to all who came to the aid of Hogwarts in its time of need, the students; parents; some of the ministry officials and especially the inhabitants of Hogsmeade village..."

Harry then noticed that the Hogsmeade residents had entered the Great Hall as well... sometime during her speech... and they stood quite still listening aptly near the entrance with Argus Filch.

Professor McGonagall continued, "Now if he feels up to it... I would like Mr. Potter... who is responsible for finally defeating and ridding us of Lord Voldemort and his tyranny... to come up and say a few words for the benefit of clarity on the defeat and the final words exchanged between him and Voldemort while duelling in this Hall..."

Harry felt literally like a deer caught in headlights of a car... he felt he was back in fourth year when his name was called as the fourth champion... At first, Harry wanted to shake his head in order to say he was not up to it... considering he had no idea what to tell them... how much to tell them... But he was placed in such a predicament that there was no going back.

"Harry...? If you could please...?"

Grudgingly he stood up and walked towards the dais, thinking rapidly what to do or what to say. Upon reaching McGonagall however, Harry stopped and stood contemplating whether to be angry at her or not.

But before Harry could say anything she started talking to him in a whisper, "Sorry Potter... Albus insisted you get this done the moment you woke up due to a number of reasons... Firstly, Kingsley cannot speak on your behalf as he does not yet know the full extent of your task... secondly, we have kept the reporters at bay and they will stay away from you on the condition that you give some sort of explanation about the last battle... today's morning Prophet has already been issued headlining the fall of Voldemort and other stuff that could be printed without bothering you; however, your words, spoken in finality are required to complete the story for them..."

With a deep sigh she continued, "Even though I have not allowed reporters on the grounds... but... The Prophet's Editor is here himself to hear what you have to say so that he will keep his side of the deal to let you have your privacy until you are ready to give a thorough account of your story if necessary... or so you decide... now, my advice to you is... keep it short, concise, to the point... but the whole story that you narrate should have a believable beginning and an end... Albus also told me to tell you ' _Only tell that which is necessary_ '."

Understanding, Harry calmed visibly, nodded and replaced her on the dais.

He was quiet for a long time, surveying the inhabitants of the hall, but actually his mind running at the speed of the Hogwarts express thinking of what to say and how to start.

He closed his eyes, remembered his mother's visit, recalled what McGonagall had said; saw Ginny standing with her arms crossed asking him to do something he would never though he would do in any other life, then opened his eyes and saw her sitting next to his vacated space, smiling encouragingly at him. That's when it hit him; he could kill two birds with one spell.

Taking a deep breath Harry began, "Thank you Professor McGonagall! Firstly... I must contradict you on one thing... I didn't vanquish or defeat Lord Voldemort... or... as was his real name Tom Marvolo Riddle..."

There was an immediate collective gasp at this proclamation, so surprising was this announcement that McGonagall who was about to sit back on her chair stopped midway, eyebrows scrunched staring at Harry bewildered.

Voices could be heard all over the hall.

" _What does he mean?_ "

" _Is he going to come back again?_ "

" _Is he not dead entirely?_ "

But Harry ignored the ripples he had caused and continued... immediately the Hall fell silent upon hearing his voice... "We all defeated Lord Voldemort... together... by sticking together... renouncing him... defying him... standing tall in front of him and his followers, despite the dangers... believing in the fact that his dark ways would not last forever..."

"Yes, there are technical aspects of how he had tried to make himself immortal... however, even those aspects I did not overcome by myself... I did it with the help of Albus Dumbledore... Dobby the House elf... Severus Snape... Griphook the Goblin... Horace Slughorn... Ron Weasley... Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom... It was the collective effort of all these people that brought him to a state where a good, knowledgeable, experienced dueller should have won against him and defeated him..."

"At the end... he did not lose to me because I was more experienced or had more knowledge than him... nor because I was a better dueller than him... No... I won... because he neglected to accept and acknowledge... over the course of his fifty years reign of terror... that ' _Love_ ' is the greatest magic of all..."

"You see... the first time I survived was not because I was more powerful than him or anything on those lines... It was because my mother had sacrificed herself just before he turned his wand towards me... That gave me a protection more powerful than the killing curse... so... last night... no... in fact this morning... when I set out to answer his demand to hand myself over... it was not to be the hero... Because believe me... I was extremely scared... so scared that even though I passed people very dear to me... people I cared about... I did not have the nerve to stop... to talk... otherwise... I knew... I would not be able to do what was necessary..."

"I only stopped to talk to Neville... to tell him to kill the snake... but lied to him where I was going... ' _Sorry Neville!_ '..."

Neville smiled and waved acknowledging the apology...

"When I finally reached the clearing... I tried to fill my thoughts with all those people whom I intended to protect... I visualized the people still alive... the ones I had seen recently in the Great Hall... then I visualized all those that had died by then... and willed myself to follow their path and protect the people still alive by giving them the same protection that my mother gave me..."

"You must be asking how...? I wasn't related to any of the people in the hall... How could I protect them...? The answer is simple..."

"I still had the magical residue of the act performed by my mother within me... I did not need to have a blood relation with any of them... with any of you... so... just as you need to think of a really good, strong, happy memory to conjure a corporeal patronus... I concentrated on visualizing all the faces of the people that were in the castle... as many as I could possibly remember... one by one I pictured them... finally ending with those closest and dearest to me... with my final happiest thought of protecting a beautiful red head... whom I had hurt by breaking up and leaving over a year ago... without giving any sort of explanation... I came out of hiding and stepped onto the clearing within Voldemort's line of sight..."

"Now he in turn gleefully made the same mistake he made when I was a baby and accepted my sacrifice without any hesitation... he did not stop to think if I was armed or not... he believed in his dark and twisted ways so much... gave so much importance to having power... he was blinded to realize that I did not need any wand to be armed... I was there of my own free will... to sacrifice myself... to die of my own violation... so that others would be protected from him..."

"While visualizing the face of this particular beautiful red head..."

Harry actually winked at Ginny but she did not respond... her expression was not fathomable to Harry...

"I closed my eyes and waited for him to perform the killing curse... he did... and it struck me right in the chest."

While Harry took a deep breath, he saw the horrified looks and heard the collective gasps of the audience.

"Now for all intents and purposes I meant to die so that someone could finish the bugger off after realizing he couldn't hurt the people in the hall... but something saved me... that something was another one of his mistakes..."

"You see... he had unwittingly used my blood that is to say an enemy's blood to resurrect himself at the end of my fourth year... by performing a dark ritual that also required the bone of his dead father and flesh from a servant... that ritual caused my blood... the blood that had my mother's protection... to also course through his vile veins... this... is what did not allow him to hurt me... no matter how powerful a curse he had used... no wand in his hand would accept me as his enemy because we shared the same blood..."

"Finally... for those of you who were all present at the battle in this hall... heard some of what happened... he lost because he believed that only killing changes a wand's allegiance... nothing else... so... when the time came to duel him... his wand... instead of killing me... backfired... and the curse rebounded on him... killing him in the process... his wand accepted me as its Master because the wand he was using was stolen... And I had luckily disarmed the person who had previously disarmed the original owner of that stolen wand... he had stolen it believing it to be powerful enough to counter the magic of love that had prevented him from finishing me off on previous encounters..."

That said, without waiting to observe any crowd reaction, Harry turned around to Professor McGonagall, nodded to indicate that he was done.

She nodded in response and stood up.

Just then Harry felt like he was hit by a bludger; he turned his head to see that his bludger had long red hair and saw she had that same blazing look in her eyes that she had that day when they first kissed in the common room. Suddenly remembering his agreement with her and worried his courage might give way any second... without looking around for any other eye contact, he bent and kissed her there and then, in front of everyone including her family.

That was the audience's cue to erupt into loud cheers, laughter and hooting.

When Ginny allowed him to let go, the first thing he did was give a superstitious glance at the Gryffindor table, particularly for the reaction of the Weasleys. He was worried what they would say or do at this surprising public display of affection.

Looking at the various faces of the Weasleys, Harry saw Mr. Weasley was genuinely smiling... ' _Ok that's a good start_ '... thought Harry; Mrs Weasley, Percy, Bill and Charlie were staring surprised with open mouths... not so much the open mouth version in Mrs Weasley's case... Ron was somewhere in the midst of smiling and gawking... Fleur was beaming and cheering along with the rest of the Hall...

Surprisingly... it was George's reaction that was making Harry look taken aback. He was giving off the first genuine and happy smile since Fred's death.

Following Harry's gaze, the Weasleys first stared at a smiling and beaming George, before getting caught in its infection... resulting in everyone not able to help but join him in smiling.

"All right everyone, please settle down."

Professor McGonagall had reached the dais which was the cue for Harry and Ginny to move towards their respective seats too.

"Please note that information regarding the burials, memorial and the next school year will be shared with you all tomorrow. I thank again all the guests that came today, both at the time of the school's need as well as to join us for dinner. Students please move back to your respective common rooms in an orderly manner; prefects and older students kindly oversee to that..."

"Guests who wish to stay and interact for a while are welcome to stay in the Hall. When you wish to leave, please inform Mr. Filch or Professor Hagrid and they will escort you out."

"Good Night..."

While she was giving this speech, Harry and Ginny had moved into their seats and Harry kept prodding Ginny and asking, "Well...? Are you happy now...? Was that public enough for you...?"

She simply smiled and nodded, though still had a thoughtful look.

Harry assumed his speech must have raised a fair few questions in her mind but now was not the time to tell... he would eventually of course... but not yet... this was enough retelling for tonight in his opinion.

Just then Bill, Charlie and Percy rounded on him with stern, sombre expressions on their faces.

Bill spoke first, "So... Potter..." but he never finished because Ginny's voice rang out in a warning manner, "Billlllllllll..." which sounded more like a threat rather than just a name call.

She was staring with a frown at all three elder brothers and her wand... though not pointing at them... was still glowing at the end while lying in her hand at the table.

"Awwww Ginny come onnnnn... What's wrong with taking a little mickey out of him...? We won't hurt him...?" whined Bill dejectedly.

Harry was surprised to see all three elder Weasley brothers giving off a very 'Weasley Twins' kind of dejected look as if a great treat had been snatched from them.

Bill slumped back beside Fleur, looking totally put out. Charlie and Percy also resumed their original sitting positions, looking so crestfallen it was quite comical.

It was then that that Harry noticed George was back to his gloomy self, staring blankly into space. Molly Weasley who had been smiling at this interaction of her kids, suddenly saw what Harry was looking at and returned her attention completely to George.

Arthur Weasley suddenly stood up and came to stand beside Harry. He placed a hand on his shoulder and with a smile said, "It's not easy to date a red haired girl son... but considering what you have faced already in your life... I'd say this will be a flyby on the Quidditch field for you..."

As if that settled the matter, he moved on to talk to Professor McGonagall and Kingsley Shacklebolt.

Harry's attention however, remained on Molly and George Weasley.

He thought he could understand a bit of what they felt; however he was at ease more than them having had the opportunity to talk to his parents, Remus and Sirius before his confrontation with Voldemort in the forest.

Then it hit him.

He made a decision there and then, stroked Ginny's hand gently, and whispered ' _I'll be back, I need to help your brother and mother_ ' and got up suddenly to go to them.

He spoke in a whisper to George first and then Molly... both of them stared at him... then nodded and got up.

Harry stopped near Ron and Hermione... told them he will be back in a while... and led the way out of the Great Hall with both George and Molly in toe looking curious... in fact the remaining occupants of the Hall staring as well he noticed.

As he reached the end of the Gryffindor table, his eyes fell on Dennis Creevey staring at the three like everyone else.

Harry stopped near Dennis, whispered in his ear to follow them and carried on outside towards the main entrance.

As the procession crossed the grounds, making a beeline towards the Forbidden Forest, Mrs Weasley looked as if she would stop them from entering while glancing at little Dennis, but George put a hand on her shoulder and took his wand out... pointedly telling her to do the same as Harry had done to light the way.

She kept quiet because of George's hand and made sure to keep Dennis in between her and George throughout the journey which made Harry smile while glancing back.

Harry knew it would be extremely difficult to find the path again; that he had told Dumbledore that even he himself might not be able to find his way back to the place easily; but the situation at hand warranted the use of it.

Promising to himself that this would be the absolute last time he would come looking for it... if he could find it... he trudged along in the oncoming bushes and shrubbery leading them into the deepest part of the forest, his wand alight trying to determine the direction through the point-me spell.

What felt like hours, but were in fact a few minutes, Harry finally entered the clearing where he had dropped the resurrection stone.

He asked the others to wait for him in the clearing; meanwhile, he started searching through the tall grass surrounding it; in a couple of minutes, amid curious stares of his company, Harry finally found it and closed his fist around it immediately.

He kept the stone hidden in his hand and walked across towards the quiet and curious trio.

When he got near he said, "You must understand that this is the first and last time I will be able to do this... so make it count and remember... ' _it does not do well to dwell on the past_ '..." remembering the words of his old Mentor.

When all three just stared blankly, he held out his closed hand and asked all three to put their hands on his arm or wrist whichever was easy. After all three had a hold, Harry closed his eyes, and thought of only being able to say goodbye to Fred Weasley, Nymphadora Tonks and Colin Creevey and then turned his fist three times, hoping it would work for three people at once.

As soon as he had done the turning of the hand, Harry heard three collective gasps, smiled and opened his eyes, knowing full well that it had worked.

He saw the ghostly wispy forms of all three... standing... smiling at the group holding Harry's hand.

Fred was standing in between his brother and mother. Colin was beside his little brother, whereas Tonks was standing near Harry.

Mrs Weasley was crying freely with fresh tears pouring down her face. She could not touch or hug her deceased son but just his appearance was enough for her to cry happily.

George was doing Ron's impersonation and Fred was smiling at his reaction.

Dennis looked as if he was seeing a ghost... which he kind of was... Tonks meanwhile was smiling and just staring at Harry.

The silence was broken by Fred who turned to his brother and said, "Nice new look... open mouth goes well with your ear..."

That was enough to make everyone give a small laugh.

Harry then spoke, "Fred... Colin... a word please..."

Both moved towards his side.

Harry whispered something in each of their ears... both nodded and went back to their original positions beside their blood families...

Tonks smiled at Harry for she had heard what he whispered... being so close to them at that time. Harry talked to her while the others were busy in their own conversations.

He tried to apologize to Tonks but she would not hear any of it; she said the same words that Remus had said to him. Then giving one final smile to Harry she turned to the other three living people and said, ' _Wotcher!_ ' one last time before disappearing in a wisp of light blue light. After a few moments, Colin also thanked Harry, said one final goodbye and vanished in the same fashion as Tonks.

Lastly... when Molly Weasley's tears had dried up... she was smiling... and George's smile was the biggest yet in the past twenty four hours... Fred said an audible Goodbye to all... mouthed ' _Thank you_ ' to Harry and disappeared in a similar fashion as the previous two apparitions. As he disappeared and the other people let go of his wrist and hand, Harry opened his palm and suddenly the resurrection stone burst into the finest dust Harry had ever seen which got scattered by the light summer breeze blowing in the clearing.

Dennis moved forward and thanked Harry after wiping his eyes.

Then George moved forward and looked very much calm and at ease in Harry's opinion. In fact, he half expected George to pull a prank or two right there and then if the situation allowed or if Molly Weasley had not been present. George smiled at Harry, gave him a side arm hug and said,

"Thank you! Do you know what the git asked me to do...? He said to make his funeral memorable... to make sure he goes out with a big bang..."

Harry just smiled in response and George moved out of the way to make way for his mother.

Molly Weasley with fresh tears pouring down profusely from her cheeks captured Harry in a bone crushing hug and kept repeating in a light voice in his ear,

"Thank you! Thank you! I don't know what would have happened if Ron had not decided to sit with you in the train on your first day to school... If you hadn't asked me how to get onto the platform..."

Harry turned red and thought of replying ' _your family would have been safe_ ' but refrained from doing so as another voice... that of Ginny's sprang up in his head at that thought ' _Yeah right Potter, as if we weren't in enough danger for being blood traitors already_ '.

Molly finally released him and smiled at his fully red and blushing face and then wiped away her own tears. Probably remembering that they were still in the Forbidden Forest, Molly Weasley bunched them all together and started to move away from the clearing and make way out of the forest.

Harry used the point me spell to determine the direction and pointed to the shortest way to the castle. As they made their way back while passing through the forest, an eerie thought crossed Harry's mind.

' _Why had they not come across any of the inhabitants of the forest during this whole trip?_ '

Harry and his procession had just entered the castle when they were met by McGonagall and Kingsley. It looked as if they had been waiting for them for a while. As they approached them, McGonagall opened her mouth to speak but was cut short by a ' _pop_ ' announcing the arrival of Kreacher.

The house-elf looked hysterical and wheezing as if he had been running a marathon and was barely able to make a coherent sentence,

"Master Harr...y... Mast...er Harry... Kreacher... Kreacher... just saw... something... at Master's... home... When Kreacher left... Master Harry... Kreacher went to check on Master's home... Kreacher wanted to make place better for Master Harry... The place is in bad bad shape... from the day you left... Bad men destroyed Master's place... But Kreacher still wanted to clean... So Kreacher started with drawing room... Kreacher started with the Black family tapestry... When Kreacher finished cleaning... Kreacher saw new names at the end of the Tapestry..."

Everyone stared in shock at the little elf, including Harry. Quizzically Harry looked at the others, but everyone was staring at Kreacher with surprised expressions. Harry turned to address Kingsley,

"Is it possible to hide people from a magical tapestry?"

Kingsley was brought out of his stupor by Harry's question and he looked at him and replied,

"It is... but... it requires extremely powerful magic... not to mention a powerful magician to accomplish... the reason being that the Black family tree tapestry uses blood magic... whereas normal family tree tapestries are only charmed to reflect the addition of family members from time to time after the addition..."

"What are the names of the people that have appeared on the tapestry Kreacher...? Are they linked with anyone's name...?" asked Harry turning to his elf.

"Rosalyn Arianna Black and Annabeth Lilian Black."

"Yes Master Harry... Master Sirius..."

*** Chapter End ***


	4. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer**_ : J. K. Rowling is the creator and owner of Harry Potter and majority of the characters in this story. I would like to thank her for creating such an amazing world where writers can let their imagination and creativity run amok. No intention of profit making is intended from the writing or use of her materials.

 _ **Review Replies:**_

Scrappy8: Thank you!

damn mason: No Harry is the heir since the last alive Male named him; however things will be interesting; read on. Harry is definitely not the super powered kind; yes, Ginny is strong because that's how Rowling portrayed her and that's why she was best for Harry. Thank you for the kind words! I Hope I won't disappoint and yes the story will really pick up in the next few chapters.

 **Chapter 3**

Harry just stared dumbfounded at his elf.

When he found his voice he asked to no one in particular, "With Sirius...? How...? That's not possible... Is it...?"

It was McGonagall who finally replied, "Potter... we can look into the matter later. We can't very well go tonight and investigate why an old tapestry is acting of its own accord... For now... there's a very important meeting that is about to start in the Transfiguration class room... Albus' portrait has asked for it... I believe he told you about it possibly happening...? Almost everyone required to be there has arrived... Kingsley and I have been waiting for you all to return from whatever it is you were doing outside..."

"Yes Professor... he did tell me and you are right... we can investigate it later..." Harry replied thoughtfully and tried to put aside the hundred questions that were now swirling in his head.

Acknowledging his reply, McGonagall took charge and said, "Right then... Mr. Creevey... please make your way to the common room. It is time you rest... you will need it as we will definitely have a fair few busy days ahead I dare say..."

Dennis Creevey nodded to her, thanked Harry again and left.

McGonagall continued, "Kingsley... you take Molly and George to the classroom... I'll be there shortly as well; I need to talk to Harry about something..."

Kingsley nodded, signalled the two Weasleys to follow him and made his way out of the gathering towards the intended destination.

When Harry was left alone with McGonagall and Kreacher; Kreacher spoke up, "Master Harry... Shall I return to your house and clean more...?"

Harry turned to the elf and said, "No Kreacher... stay at Hogwarts... rest and help the other elves. We will go together to Grimmauld place sometime this week..."

Kreacher bowed with the locket still dangling and disappeared.

Harry turned his full attention to his transfiguration teacher and said inquiringly,

"Professor...?"

She nodded in response and said,

"Potter... first and foremost; tell me honestly... how are you feeling...? If you are feeling any sort of tiredness... exhaustion... pain... please do not hesitate to tell me... The meeting can wait... I will postpone it..."

Smiling at her concern Harry replied,

"I am fine professor... apart from being a bit sleepy still... I feel fine."

"All right then... let's go; Merlin knows what's so important for Albus to share with the particular set of people gathered in my classroom that it couldn't wait till morning..." ranted McGonagall while moving towards her classroom.

Harry gave a quizzical look to the back of his transfiguration professor but didn't comment and just followed her.

Upon entering the classroom, Harry saw the entire Weasley clan including Fleur with the addition of Hermione, sitting in the front two rows. Behind the lot were Aberforth Dumbledore, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Augusta Longbottom and Neville Longbottom. In front of the classroom, where usually a teacher stood to give lectures, the Pensieve of Albus Dumbledore stood on a stone pedestal.

McGonagall pointed at Harry to go sit, while she closed the door and went to stand beside the Pensieve.

Harry seeing an empty chair intentionally left by his friends in between them; went straight for it and sat down between Ginny and Ron.

McGonagall noting that everyone had settled and were staring at her, started to address them.

"You are all each of you here on the request and wish of Albus Dumbledore's portrait... there is a vial of memories that he left for me in his office which I am about to show you through this Pensieve... please note that I am as in the dark about this as you all are... so... if everyone is ready... then let's begin..."

McGonagall poured the contents of the vial... which was abnormally full in Harry's opinion based on his past experiences with memories not taking up more than one fourth of a vial... took out her wand, cast some powerful silencing and privacy charms on the classroom and twirled the contents of the stone basin with her wand once...

A ghostly figure of Albus Dumbledore rose up from the Pensieve and McGonagall went to sit in an empty chair beside Kingsley near the front.

Harry and the others watched avidly as the tall figure of Albus Dumbledore's ghostly form stood from the Pensieve with that same smile and eyes that would have twinkled if he were alive, looking at the crowd in front of him. It looked like he had made this memory like a recording by assuming he would be addressing this particular set of crowd one day. It also looked recent as his hand was blackened and shrivelled just like last year.

"Hello!"

"I can't really say morning, afternoon or evening as I have no clue at what time of the day you would be seeing this memory, so forgive me... also... as I will be unaware of who survived the battle and who didn't... I can't be really sure who will be my audience... However, for the sake of being optimistic... I will assume that everyone required to be in this room is alive and well... If however... my assumption is wrong and any particular person did... did not make it... my portrait can decide what to do with this memory... who to trust and who should be sitting in this audience..."

As the memory of Dumbledore took a moment to gather his breath, McGonagall spoke to the audience, "His portrait told me Remus was also originally meant to be part of this group but..." and then she went quite.

Before Harry could get sad at remembering this, the memory started to speak again.

"Coming back to my original assumption of you all being alive and successfully eliminating the threat of Voldemort... I will start my story... for it is that actually... the story of my life's challenges..."

"What I am about to tell you is a very old lore by nature..."

"It all starts with a Prophecy... and not just any prophecy, but in fact the oldest... very first prophecy..."

"This prophecy was made by an exceptionally gifted and powerful seer... also known as the first seer..."

"She was a student... or disciple you might say... of Merlin himself and she made this first prophecy to him."

"According to lore... in those times the importance and occurrence of a prophecy was judged by the impact of the prophecy on the seer after it had been given..."

"The longer time it took for the seer to regain consciousness after making the prophecy... higher the importance was given to it and longer the time it was perceived for the prophecy to come to pass... But this hypothesis was confirmed only after the first seer had made more than thirty or so prophecies..."

"Now after making her first prophecy the seer did not wake for months on end... Merlin tried a lot to revive her but failed... In the end, she woke up of her own accord... thereafter when she did wake up... she made many other prophecies but none had the same impact on her as the first one..."

"Of course... Merlin recounted everything that had happened to her during the first prophecy and wrote it down for her to see... It is commonly believed among scholars that in Merlin's time... majority of the magical studies were conducted in Ancient Runes... but this was a difficult process as the language of the runes was still in its infancy stage of being translated and could not be fully understood as Merlin himself was developing the art of translating it through research... ' _Why_ ' you might ask...? You see... the runes are a branch of an ancient language that far predates the time of even Merlin... no one really knows who developed it... or where it came from... although there are many theories on the matter. All we know for a fact is that the runic language cannot be spoken... only read, translated into a readable form and then written..."

"Anyway... as interesting as this history lesson will be to a few of you... for the sake of others... I will cut it short..."

"Now... prophecies being a form of magic generally come in the language you use most in your daily life... as the first seer and her fellow students spent majority of their early days trying to read and write in runes whilst studying magic with Merlin; so naturally, this first prophecy was also made in those ancient symbols or runes as we call them now..."

"The first seer used to draw the symbols in whatever way was easy... she was never in control... and regardless of what the place or time... when the prophecy came... she had to write it down in some way... shape or form by utilizing the things nearby... however, the symbols were not all of them entirely known or understood at that time... as I mentioned before... in fact... to this day, it is the general consensus that it is still an incomplete language..."

"The symbols of this prophecy were too many and too new for Merlin to fully translate or understand... all other prophecies made by his disciple later on were small and easy to decipher... but this one... this one required time... so... Merlin made it his life's work to finish the understanding and meanings of the symbols themselves first and foremost... and then list them down in a proper manner... to give them a shape... like a book..."

"In his last few years, Merlin left for an expedition of the world's most ancient civilizations which were known to house such symbols... in an effort to make a glossary of sorts... Alas... Merlin never returned from his quest... nor was this glossary he was making ever found or discovered... The seer however... with age and experience of giving a lifetime full of prophecies... became adept at guessing how soon a particular prophecy she made would come true..."

"So... before dying... she gave the written down runic form of the first prophecy to her first born with explicit instructions... she told him to hand it down to each generation for safekeeping until it's era for fulfilment nears... according to her... the prophecy was supposed to come to pass approximately sixteen centuries from her time..."

"Now... as the story goes... the children of this seer followed her instructions without fault until the last known generations which included Rowena and Helena Ravenclaw... Rowena followed the instructions and passed on the information to Helena... however her life never got the chance to live fully... Rowena disturbed by her daughter's death... and no living blood relation to pass on the information to... turned to a trusted friend... Godric Gryffindor..."

"Godric assured her that the chain will not break... in fact, with her permission, he changed the rules of ' _passing on to the next generation of the seer_ ', to ' _the headmaster or headmistress of Hogwarts_ '... from there on... as you can very well imagine... the prophecy was told by Godric Gryffindor himself to the next headmaster / headmistress and so on and so forth..."

"But no one was able to translate it... since no one knew what some of the never before seen runes meant... the book Merlin was writing was never found... the ancient runes we teach at Hogwarts have and always will be an incomplete work of knowledge to this date... When Professor Armando Dippet stepped down and I took the Headmaster's office... I went through the same phase of being given ' _instructions_ ' just like my predecessors..."

"Godric's portrait informed me that the prophecy was supposed to come to pass either in my time or in my successor's time... that no one to date had been able to translate it... that it was a tall task... but the burden was on me to somehow succeed where others had failed..."

"I tried... to the best of my abilities... to find some trace of Merlin's trip or whereabouts of the book but to no avail... I even asked for help from the keeper of the prophecies... as well as some of the Unspeakables... however... nothing worked... eventually... I had to put it aside for far more urgent issues... like the rise of Voldemort which was in its infancy stage..."

"Fate... I believe was kind to me; you all know that I had worked with Nicholas Flamel and his wife Perenelle on dragon's blood and the philosopher's stone... Well after finishing our work... they both decided to go on a vacation; they went for an excavation trip to Peru... There... by some miracle... they found the book; hidden away in a small tomb... which they assumed was of Merlin's since the book had been signed by him and was in the skeletal hand of the tomb's occupant..."

"They showed it to me upon their return and in response I told them about its origin from my knowledge... that I have imparted to you all... They both were kind enough to give the book to me for translating the prophecy..."

"Alas... just finding the book was not enough... it had to be read carefully and understood properly... Every symbol had a full page of various meanings and every translation of the prophecy could be worded differently... now... understanding and translating the prophecy became even more difficult because around this time... as I told you... Voldemort's first rise had just started... believe me when I tell you... I went through quite a few sleepless nights... what with looking after the school... keeping tabs on Voldemort and his followers... and at nights... reading as well as understanding this ancient tome..."

"I regret to tell you that I never got to finish reading the book... nor translating the prophecy in its entirety; however... I was successful in translating it partially and in portions... now... I am going to show you the exact runes of the First Prophecy... Ms Granger... if you would be kind enough to copy and write them down exactly..."

With a twirl of the Elder wand... Harry noted... Dumbledore formed the prophecy written in ancient runes in midair... in glowing letter shaped symbols which were floating in an orderly manner... but made no sense to Harry whatsoever...

Hermione immediately pulled out her wand and using some spell unknown to Harry copied the floating symbols onto a piece of parchment she had just conjured in her lap.

After a minute of displaying it, Dumbledore waived his wand again, the symbols disappeared and he started to address the enthralled crowd again.

"The various parts of the prophecy that I did successfully translate happened in different timelines... some lines before Voldemort's first fall... and some after his second recent rise... The lines I was initially able to translate in their entirety and was confident were correct... were line numbers one... nine... ten and the first three words of line eleven..."

"Ms Granger if you would please note this down as I speak...?"

Hermione immediately readied herself and Harry couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm to be ever ready for studying.

"Line number one states, ' _Apep's rise will be triggered by the second defeat'_ ;"

"Line number nine states, ' _Nine are required to combine, to give chance for survivors to survive'_ ;"

"Line number ten states, ' _The Sibling Pair, Scion's of the First Protector of the Enchanted'_ ;"

"Line number eleven's first 3 words state, ' _The Daughter Black...'"_

"It took me quite a while to understand what these lines meant... because the words were not used in common tongue; not all of the lines I understood at the same time either... The first lines that I fully understood were line number one... nine and ten..."

"Line one roughly meant ...' _A threat as bad as that of an enormous snake capable of devouring the world ...as per mythical stories... will rise due to a second defeat_ '; now whose ' _defeat_ ' it was referring to... I had no clue at that time... All I had to go on with was that the prophecy's words pertained to this era..."

"The meaning of line nine is quite simple at a glance... yet incomprehensible at the same time due to the missing non-translated lines two to eight before it... "

"Line ten is referring to siblings who are the descendants i.e. scions of the first protector of the enchanted i.e. Merlin..."

"To understand and identify what line ten and eleven's wordings meant... it took me a while... to identify as it required the use of ministry resources like going to the ministry and looking at old family trees... After thorough research... detailed analysis and various meetings with old families and historians... including Bathilda Bagshot... I was able to identify the most promising candidates... So after the extensive exploration... I confronted a very good... very close friend of mine who was also one of the founding members of the ' _Order of the Phoenix_ '... Thomas McKinnon Sr. ..."

Dumbledore paused by taking a deep breath before continuing.

"I asked him if my research was true and that it was in fact his family which was the last living line of direct descendants of Merlin... he confirmed it... after much persistence on my part and also told me about the task his family had been entrusted with... for generations... the thing I was most surprised at was... the words which proved my theory were right there in front of me for all these years I had visited him at his home... they were written on their family crest in ancient runes... ' _To protect the magical world, forever and always_ '... "

"You see... the McKinnons... were well known for their fighting and duelling abilities... as well as other certain skills quite uncommon in the magical world... Voldemort... already knew that the family was one of the oldest... wealthiest... and powerful ones alive... he knew this through the benefit of having significant pulls and contacts within the ministry himself... so ... having found out about their lineage from the Ministry records... he went straight for them in order to stamp his authority of power by eliminating this family that was most dangerous for his cause... he did not even consider recruiting them because of the family's widely known policy to protect all magical beings without prejudice and division..."

Harry was listening raptly and in shock; he had so many questions in his head that with every pause Albus Dumbledore took meant his mind went immediately into overdrive with various questions like, 'Where was this leading to?' 'Who was the daughter Black? 'What did the prophecy have anything to do with him?'

Thankfully, Dumbledore resumed the story.

"Voldemort... killed the last McKinnons himself during the first war... he killed my friend's only child... his son... Thomas Jr. first... later his daughter-in-law Marlene McKinnon and his grandchildren Irvine and Eileen McKinnon... last of all... Voldemort killed my friend Thomas Sr. ... It was big news each time Voldemort killed both father and son and the newspapers were printing about their deaths for almost two weeks each time... It was then that the fear of Voldemort and the threat he portrayed really started to seep in with the masses... The McKinnon's deaths... forced the ministry to finally consider the threat of Voldemort real and give importance to curbing his ascent..."

There was a deafening crash, everyone turned to see that Hermione had fallen off her chair. Harry was the first to react and got up to help her followed by Ron.

It looked like she was dazed, as if some magic she was trying to perform had backfired.

Just then the figure of Albus Dumbledore started to speak again.

"Yes... Miss Granger, the Marlene McKinnon I spoke of is your aunt and although she was a muggleborn married into a magical family... her children... your cousins... Eileen and Irvine... were magical... I know this because their names appeared in the book just like yours did when you were born..."

Dumbledore paused again here which Harry utilized to help Ron get a dazed Hermione back to her seat.

"Ms Granger if you are the one who has been noting down what I asked and are unable to continue... it is all right... you may let someone else do it for you... I can completely understand your surprise upon hearing... that even though you are a muggleborn... you are related to one of the oldest and most powerful families of the magical world..."

"As to why you never remembered that name or ever linked it to any of the history books is my fault... however, I will explain how it is my fault a bit later... so bear with me..."

As Dumbledore took a long pause, Harry turned to Hermione and asked for the parchment as a gesture to help but she just shook her head and gave a very determined look... first to Harry... then back to Dumbledore... her eyes almost full of tears and threatening to break free any moment...

"Where was I...?"

"Ah yes... like I was saying... Voldemort killed them himself... including the children... who were reported dead when their charred bodies were found in one of the family's burned down houses... only Thomas Sr. ... my friend... was left alive... and that too by chance as he and I were both abroad discussing the words of the prophecy and what they could mean... when that particular attack happened..."

"Now for some good news... the attack was unsuccessful; but only a few people knew that... as it was orchestrated... brilliantly I might add..."

"When the ministry officials had left the crime scene and only I and Thomas were left searching the place looking for clues and remains of any special or personal belongings... he approached me and said... 'they are alive... come with me...' and grabbed my arm taking me to an unknown location by side-along apparition before I could even acknowledge what he'd said..."

"When we arrived at our destination... it was to his family manor..."

"To my surprise and utmost joy, we found both the children and Marlene safe, well and alive... "Thomas had used the Fidelius charm to protect all three in the family Manor... So to the world... all three had died in the attack; but actually... they were all safe... for the time being..."

"Upon my curious gaze, Thomas explained that when Voldemort first started to pursue the family and killed his son... less than a year ago from this event... they had to take drastic measures to keep the family safe... He knew his fate was and always would be to confront Voldemort one day... due to the family name and their destiny as protectors... so he could not go into hiding..."

"Now... to ensure the safety of the children and Marlene... he devised this strategy to place the children in hiding... circulate false information via Ministry about their whereabouts... including information about the enchantments placed on the hideout and other verifiable details... to ensure that instead of entering the house and killing each person one by one... Voldemort would only seek to destroy and burn the place down..."

"In order to show and pretend to the magical world that the McKinnon children and Marlene were dead... he obtained dead bodies of the same age and height from muggle obituaries... commonly called 'John Doe... Jane Doe...' in the muggle world... and placed them in the house which Voldemort was going to destroy..."

"After destroying the place with fiend fire... Voldemort saw three burnt and charred dead bodies matching the same heights as the intended targets and believed he had achieved his goal... but... Thomas... who was under a sacred family oath... which is required to be taken by the family members upon reaching adulthood at the age of seventeen... in line with their family legacy... could not abandon the world to Voldemort... or to the tyranny of his followers...he had to confront him and the scene was perfectly laid out..."

"You see... Thomas was a brilliant strategist; all he needed to do now was callout Voldemort for a duel as revenge for killing his entire family whilst displaying grief at his loss... Obviously, I was planning to stand by him and became his second in the duel..."

"Now... you must understand... that until then I had no idea what Voldemort had done to achieve immortality..."

"Alas... the plan went horribly wrong..."

"Thomas officially challenged Voldemort to duel... which Voldemort being who he was... could not ignore because of his power hungry nature; the time and venue of the duel was agreed and when I was named his second... Rudolphus Lestrange was named as Voldemort's second..."

"When we arrived for the duel... Voldemort was not there... only Rudolphus was...who immediately started the duel with Thomas without following the niceties or a chance for us to survey or get questioned about the absence of his master; when I tried to intervene, Thomas stopped me and screamed at me with a fearful expression to go check on ' _ **Them**_ '... his sixth sense was telling him something was not right..."

"We believed only we knew that Marlene and the kids were supposed to be secretly visiting her muggle family... her sister's family to be exact... at that time... it was supposed to be the last visit before they went into hiding... a sort of goodbye for the children and the family until Voldemort's threat was gone..."

"Marlene had planned to either persuade them to move somewhere faraway or to let her arrange for someone to place more protective charms around their place... just as a precaution..."

"But... somehow... Voldemort found out about her... only her mind you... being alive... including... her present whereabouts; so... instead of showing up to the duel... he went after her... he did not know that the children were alive as well..."

"When... when I... I arrived... Voldemort had already wounded Marlene fatally... he was torturing her for information about how she survived and where her muggle family was... upon my arrival... Voldemort immediately started to duel me; when the duel took longer than a couple of minutes he escaped..."

"I immediately went over to Marlene and was about to conjure a stretcher to take her to St. Mungos when she stopped me and requested to listen to her... I knelt down... and... with her last breaths she told me that the protective charms previously placed on the house by Thomas had helped in alerting her and she had used the emergency portkey placed here to get the Grangers to safety... she also told me that she had called her house elf to take the children back to the manor immediately..."

"She pleaded with me to perform a memory charm on the Grangers in order to make them forget this incident... as well as the fact that she and her children had survived as opposed to previously reported news of them all dying... she asked me to make them think that she and her children were all dead and that her children did not have magical abilities... she pleaded me to try and force them to move out to someplace safe so that when the time comes for Hermione and Irvine to attend Hogwarts it will be a time safe from Voldemort..."

"Thus... the only muggle member of the Order of the Phoenix... one of the bravest persons I knew... died at the hands of Voldemort... I dispatched her body to the family's crypt via an emergency portkey and went straight back to the duelling point; but... Voldemort had won..."

"He and Rudolphus had overpowered Thomas together by ignoring the rules... it was obvious from the angles the grass in the area was burned as if curses were fired from two directions towards one point... so by the time I appeared... Thomas was dead with the dark mark above his body..."

Dumbledore's memory grew silent with head bowed low; when he raised his head, he had tears running down his face.

After a brief pause, in which Harry glanced at Hermione who was staring wide eyed at Dumbledore with large torrents of tears coming down her cheeks, Dumbledore started to speak again.

"After what I had seen happen... I was angered and distraught... an old and good family had been torn apart and nearly wiped off by this power-hungry madman... so after taking Thomas's body to the family crypt as well... I went to the manor to see the children and check if they were all right..."

With a deep sorrowful sigh Dumbledore continued the recount, "It was the most difficult thing... to explain to Eileen that her mother was no more... Irwin was too young to understand then what had happened... so I left them under the care of the children's nanny... a very wise and trusted old friend of the family's as well as their house elf... The children's pain was somewhat also reduced from the availability of their ancestor's family portraits including their parents and grandfather..."

"Now more than ever I was sure that the ' _Sibling Pair_ ' mentioned in the oldest prophecy were the McKinnon children... they were the last of their line... to add to that... Thomas had left everything of his family's in my care as a precaution... so now I had one other huge duty on my shoulders... bearing the responsibility upon myself and to ensure the children's safety... I invoked some very old and somewhat dark magic to hide and protect them... I used their previously announced deaths as a good disguise to hide them from history... forcing people to forget them in time when no mention of the name was made... I used a blood protection spell to hide their manor since the Fidelius was already in place and could not be redone; I linked it to my blood... until or unless I died... nobody could enter or leave except for me... The children's nanny agreed to the condition for the sake of the children... plus being as old as she was she didn't mind one bit I believe..."

"Also... since the children's attending of school was not possible in this scenario... I took it upon myself to teach them everything my friend Thomas would have taught them... their knowledge and training was now to be taken care of by me and their ancestral portraits aided me a lot in the matter of their teaching..."

Again Dumbledore took a long pause to gather his thoughts and breath it seemed before continuing.

"Now I must ask that you all... especially Hermione, Augusta and Neville... kindly forgive me for doing this... you must believe me when I say that I saw no other choice..."

"I know I took away your chance to be with your cousins; I took away the best possible chance of strengthening our side with extra and able hands; a chance that might have or might not have saved more lives... we might never know; I took away the chance of Neville meeting the son of his father's best friend and his godfather; the possibility and chance to have a best friend in Irvine just like his father found a friend in Thomas Jr. ..."

"I am extremely sorry; but it was imperative that all those who I was able to clearly identify as mentioned in the prophecy, had to be protected by any means necessary; otherwise the part about ' _Nine are required to combine_ ' would not have come to pass under the threat of Voldemort..."

"It is with sheer joy and happiness I inform you... that both McKinnons are alive and well; in fact... the elder one... Eileen is in her mid twenties now..."

"If you feel extreme anger at me, please remember that I have had to endure the wrath of those two for almost fifteen to sixteen years for being locked up, trained and educated to the best of my abilities but not being able to help you all, not being able to go out without me, or to make close friends..."

"Assuming that I am now dead... which is why you all are listening to this memory... my portrait... which is also a resident in their manor... will have informed them these details upon my death... hopefully... they will have heeded my advice and not rushed out immediately upon being free to help you all without first talking to me..."

Dumbledore was silent for quite some time after this... probably allowing the audience some time to gain their bearings after listening to such an amazing tale...

With a dazed expression Harry glanced at Hermione and couldn't help but smile seeing her smiling whilst staring at the memory in front of them... albeit in tears... despite the anger and amazement at Dumbledore's audacity to do what he did and to keep such a big secret...

Meanwhile the ghostly figure of Dumbledore cleared his throat to continue his tale.

"Now... onto the three words of line eleven of the prophecy... ' _The Daughter Black..._ ' that was quite difficult as it could have meant anyone at that time... the three Black family daughters alive at that time were Narcissa... Andromeda... and Bellatrix..."

"Since I was unsure... I remained speculative on the identity... It wasn't until just after Voldemort first fell that I came to identify the person..."

"You might want to be attentive to this part Harry... you see... at the time of Voldemort's attack on your home; Sirius Black was supposed to be out on a date with none other than your mother's best friend and your godmother Rosalyn Arianna Dumbledore... Rose for short as she preferred to be called... and no... Before you jump to conclusions... she was not mine as I never married... but in fact she is the granddaughter of my brother Aberforth Dumbledore..."

A ringing silence met this proclamation as nearly everyone glanced at Aberforth who was sitting at the back giving a very angry, deathly glare to his elder brother.

"Yes Abe... I know you must be angry ever since your memories returned... however please bear with me..."

"As I was saying... Sirius and Rose were supposed to meet on a long awaited date as they had been away from each other for nearly six months while she was abroad on a research trip with Aberforth..."

"When the attack on the Potters happened... Sirius was at the restaurant waiting for her; she was late..."

"Although I never got the chance to ask him... but... somehow... Sirius knew immediately that something had happened at the Potters... without waiting for Rose or telling her himself why he was leaving or informing where he was going... he took his motorcycle and went straight for Godric's Hollow..."

"The rest of the story of how he met Hagrid there... offered him his bike to deliver the baby to the Dursleys as per my instructions... went after Peter... you all know..."

"What you don't know is that Rose was pregnant... she was expecting and was entering her ninth month... and... she had been waiting for this date with Sirius... ever since her return... so that before anyone else saw her... she would be able to tell Sirius the news herself..."

"Apparently... she had taken this long to tell him because she was initially afraid to do so... over thinking what his reaction might be... alas... the things we do when we are young... Anyway... coming back to the story... When she arrived at the restaurant and the manager gave her Sirius' message that he had left to attend to an emergency... she went back home where I had already arrived to meet Abe and give the bad news about the attack on the Potters..."

"Now, I was also meeting Rose after quite a while and as soon as she saw me she ran to hug me; it was then that I noticed that she was showing... naturally when I saw she was expecting I congratulated her... she forcefully asked me to keep quiet and let her tell the father and her friends herself..."

"I am ashamed to admit I did not have the heart to tell her immediately that her best friend and his husband were dead..."

"Suddenly... the three words of the prophecy I had translated... came to my mind and a thought hit me... scared out of my sudden realization... I asked her without being considerate... ' _Is the baby a boy or a girl?_ '..."

"Well you can imagine... as much as she loved and respected me... she visibly looked uncomfortable to reply at first but responded nevertheless... ' _Yes I know, but I can't tell you; Sirius and Lily should know before anyone else._ '"

Dumbledore's memory stopped talking, and he took off his spectacles and wiped away fresh tears. After composing himself he continued.

"I'm sorry...it is painful to remember her reaction when I told her about their deaths and that it was likely because Sirius betrayed them as he was their secret keeper... she lost her footing and almost collapsed out of grief... had it not been for Abe and me who caught her... she might have possibly lost her baby from the fall..."

"When she came around... her only thoughts were... ' _Harry? What's going to happen to him? We need to protect him? I need to protect him. Are you sure it was Sirius who betrayed them?_ '

"It took us a while to calm her down; but when she did... I told her to be strong and to forget about Sirius and Harry for now... then I told her briefly about the oldest prophecy and its history and that it may refer to her unborn child... when she confirmed amid lots of tears that the child was a girl... I felt firsthand the gravity of the situation I was in... First the McKinnons... and now my own family was part of the oldest prophecy..."

"I assured her I would ensure Harry's safety... whilst she and her child needed to be hidden and protected...so... I devised a plan where I used the same magic as I had used on the McKinnons... to hide them both..."

"I used a false story that she had disappeared during her trip with Abe and that after months of trying to find her he had returned aggrieved and broken... unable to do simplest of spells... to make the story believable... I used a powerful memory charm to make Abe forget the conversation and believe the story I had made for everyone else..."

But the media did not give much importance to that announcement as they were more interested in printing about the deaths of the Potters and Harry's defeat of Voldemort..."

A fierce grunt followed this proclamation, warranting the audience to turn and look at an angry and irate Aberforth Dumbledore but ignoring this grunt, the elder brother continued.

"A side-effect of the charm was that it used the magical power of the person on whom it is performed to keep itself enforced... the trigger to end it could be charmed to any event of the caster's choosing... if clearly spoken; I charmed the trigger to be Voldemort's death..."

"That is why the charms my brother performed on those goats backfired all those years ago and the prophet had a field day with it; he did not possess his full abilities to do them correctly..."

"I know you may never forgive me for doing this Abe... for I took away your right to see your granddaughter and great granddaughter for more than a decade... for which I will be eternally sorry...however... in my defence... I did it all to protect them... because Abe... you know by nature you were always the one full of energy and ready to fight... plunge into action immediately and without thought..."

"Rose gave birth to her daughter Annabeth... or Anna for short as she prefers to be called... a little earlier than expected... in fact shortly after I sent Rose into hiding..."

Harry stared... shocked and angry at his headmaster... his godfather had a daughter and he never knew or met her...? How could Dumbledore let this happen...?

Before Harry could throw something angrily at the ghostly figure... which Dumbledore would have probably won't been be able to see or feel regardless of what Harry threw at him... the figure started to speak again...

"No Harry... I am not as bad a person as you think... I know what you are thinking and even though I may have had to live by that dread... thankfully... I was saved from the embarrassment... I can inform you that there is some good that did happen too... In your third year... as soon as Sirius escaped on Buckbeak... I sent him to the island where I had hidden Rose and Anna... I did not tell him what he would find there... as I believed it was Rose's place to do so... however, I did inform Rose before Sirius's arrival of what had transpired at the school... I told her how Pettigrew had been the keeper and had betrayed the Potters... how Sirius was innocent... how he needed a secure hiding place..."

"So I killed two birds with one stone... as the muggles say... I arranged for him to join them in hiding... as well as... reunited them as a family... I used my respective ranks as Headmaster and Chief Warlock to have them officially married... though I never released the paperwork to the Ministry... wanted to wait for such time that it was safe to do so..."

"It was also at that time I was able to understand and translate line eleven of the prophecy in its entirety... Line eleven stated... ' _The_ _Daughter Black_ , _of the Convicted Innocent, bearing sky's twinkle_ '... meaning that she would be a descendant of the black family... related to an innocent convict... and would have blue eyes like that which runs in my family..."

"Sirius... was able to stay almost a year with them until the events leading to the Triwizard tournament started to scare all of us and he decided to return... you would remember Harry that Sirius once sent you a letter carried by a red coloured large tropical bird...?"

"He was staying there with his family when he sent you that letter... of course... I had requested him to not disclose anything and he agreed with me as well after finding out about the prophecy... its significance... and his daughter's importance... it was mutually decided by Sirius and Rose that Rose would stay hidden to protect Annabeth until necessary... whilst Sirius would go back and look after you..."

"However... to do that he needed to make a sacrifice... to be placed under a memory charm and forget all that happiness... he was so sure of the decision to charm his memories into forgetting... that he was willing to do it himself... He wanted to remain totally focused on protecting you without the worry of his own family..."

"You'll remember that while staying at Grimmauld place... Sirius remained moody and angry... it was not entirely because he was holed up in that house he hated so much or that Severus kept goading him... No... It was because the memory charm I placed on him was not powerful... and he being Sirius... a very talented wizard... was unconsciously fighting with its magic... I had placed a weak charm intentionally on him... against his wishes mind you... in the hopes to remove it easily in future..."

"Alas... I never got the chance to remove it..."

Harry was crying freely now, marvelling at his godfather's bravery, sacrifice, resilience and patience to forfeit so much just to protect him. Sirius gave up his new found family and the chance to live a life with them for Harry's sake.

Ginny placed a hand on his and that helped calm him to an extent.

This pause of silence was the longest yet by the memory form of Albus Dumbledore... he had his head bowed and eyes hidden from view... probably tired... Harry thought... or maybe he assumed that he... Harry... would need some time to bring himself together...

Finally Dumbledore raised his head and continued where he had stopped.

"Coming back to the Prophecy... during the last six years... till the day I am making this memory... I made further progress in translating it... I was successfully able to translate lines twelve... thirteen... and fourteen... so now... the present version of the Prophecy should look like this..."

Dumbledore again waived his wand and the prophecy appeared written in the air; the only difference being that this time it was partially in runes and partially in old English.

Harry glanced at Hermione and saw she was already tallying and copying it down in its order with her wand.

 _Apep's rise will be triggered by the second defeat,_

 _Nine are required to combine, to give chance for survivors to survive._

 _The Sibling Pair, Scion's of the First Protector of the Enchanted._

 _The Daughter Black, of the Convicted Innocent, bearing sky's twinkle_

 _The youngest of Griffins, the Fiery, Blessed, Seventh of Pure_

 _The Champions of the Hall, Destroyers of the Spirits_

 _The Outsider, Bright, Witty and Wise, ace of the Azure Eagle_

"Bearing in mind the assumption that Voldemort has been defeated... that Harry, Ronald and Hermione succeeded in their task that I will leave them with in the event of my early death... and also assuming that all three hopefully survive... then in this scenario... since we know that line nine states that nine people are required to come together to give chance to the survivors of the fight with Voldemort to survive the new threat... we can safely depict that everyone who survived the fight with Voldemort will survive the new threat... _**only**_... if the ' _Nine_ ' mentioned in the prophecy come together..."

"Line twelve refers to a single person just like line eleven did..."

"This person was difficult to identify as I had to go word by word... but I was finally able to identify her... Ginevra Weasley..."

Everyone including Harry stared dumbstruck at Dumbledore's apparition.

Harry turned to look at Ginny but she was staring wide-eyed at Dumbledore and then briefly glanced at her parents. Harry followed her gaze and saw that Molly had her hand on her mouth and Arthur was holding the chair's side arms tightly with his knuckles white.

The silence was again broken by the late Headmaster.

"How... I know this for certain... is the fact that the Weasleys are descendants of Godric Gryffindor himself... not directly... but still... they are the only living family to be related to him... having said so... the part about ' _youngest of Griffins_ ' where Griffin was the family crest of Godric... it was evident that it meant someone from his line... the ' _fiery_ ' meant the red hair as well as her nature which of course I came to know of recently..."

He said the last part with a crooked smile and continued,

"The ' _Blessed_ ' part meant that the child was a blessing for the family... as she had six brothers preceding her and she was a girl born to the Weasleys after a significant time lapse in history... finally the part about ' _seventh of Pure_ ' meant that the seventh child... born of pure love..."

Without stopping and letting the crowd process this, he continued on.

"Line thirteen states ' _champions of the Hall_ ' referring to the champions of ' _Hogwarts_ ', whereas the ' _destroyers of the spirits_ ' I can now for certain confirm you... after finding out how Voldemort made himself immortal to an extent... means the people who will destroy the spirits or souls of Voldemort... now... I cannot assume to know or judge whom that might be as it has not happened as of yet... However... by careful deduction and calculation... I would say that out of the nine... four people are being referred to in this line of the prophecy..."

"Based on an educated guess... assuming that apart from me... currently only Harry, Ronald and Hermione know about the souls of Voldemort... I would say that Harry... Ronald and Hermione must be three of the four who are destined to destroy at least one of his soul's piece... the fourth person... I cannot guess... it may or may not be me as I have destroyed one... it will depend on how long I live... so I leave that up to you to determine... as by now you may already have guessed..."

During the silence that followed as Dumbledore was giving a meaningful stare at the audience, Harry turned around to look at Neville. He was sitting beside his grandmother staring blankly wondering Merlin knows what. Harry stood up and called out to him bringing him out of his daze,

"You are the fourth... Neville... You killed the snake..."

However, Neville never got the chance to acknowledge or reply as Dumbledore started to speak again as if in a hurry to finish.

"I am guessing that by now you have identified all four... including any who I might have guessed wrongly... I will move on to line number fourteen... It states about a person who is an outsider... is bright... is witty and wise... and is an ' _ace of the Azure eagle_ '..."

"Now... I was never able to identify the person but I do understand for a fact that the person may be related to Ravenclaw house somehow... the reason being that the Azure Eagle is her family crest... However, I also know for a fact that Rowena was the last living descendant and that bloodline was never given a chance to grow further so... I am afraid I can be of no more help on the matter of the prophecy... other than leaving you with Merlin's book to understand and decipher it completely and do what is necessary to help each other out... I do however; have some parting words of advice if you would oblige an old man to listen to them..."

"The people I kept in hiding will join you all within hours of receiving the news of Voldemort's defeat... please welcome them on my behalf and do not take out your anger and frustration because of me... on them... remember what I forced them to endure... they may not be at ease in crowds at first, having been confined for so long... however, I have tried to keep them all up to date as much as possible on my visits to their respective hideouts and taking them out in disguise on other various occasions..."

"I have some last few words for each of you... I hope you will all heed them... regardless of how much anger you must have towards me..."

"Arthur... I am sorry to be the bearer of such news for you that one child is confirmed to be a part of this and the other will most likely also be... However, you and your family are descendants of one of the bravest wizard to have ever lived... No matter what anyone ever says about your love for muggles and being blood traitors... always remember whose legacy you are carrying and why is it that you and your family members are the bravest people to have crossed the Halls of Hogwarts..."

"Molly... my dear... you have raised your children beautifully and it shows in their characters... However, I must advise you to allow them some breathing room and to let them make some mistakes in life... for that is how we learn. I will give you an example with the help of a muggle saying whose crux is... ' _If you hold onto a fistful of sand tightly, the sand will start to slip away; however if you hold onto the sand in the palm of your hand without completely closing it, it will remain safely within those confines_ '. So... trust in the love and upbringing you and Arthur have poured into your children and they will never disappoint you... I can guarantee it... But knowing that they are descendants of a hot tempered but warm hearted person like Godric Gryffindor... should be enough for you to understand what drives your family to do what they do..."

"Bill Weasley... you are the eldest and have shown all the qualities of a leader in your time at Hogwarts as well as with the work you did for the Order... do not change... for anything... or for anyone... always remember to follow your heart; take care of your younger siblings even if they are not young anymore... for they will always need you for support..."

"Charlie Weasley... you were and always will be a wild one, but you must learn to strike a balance between your work and your family... Once you do... I think you will find your better half who might also be as wild natured as you..." Dumbledore winked in the general direction of the audience.

"Percy Weasley... I will not tell you to change either... as there should be someone in the family of your abilities and nature... however my dear boy... I must ask you to try and have some fun once in a while... otherwise... life will pass you by and you may regret not living it among all the rules, regulations and ambitions..."

"Twins... It was one of the most difficult tasks to keep an eye on you two... while you were at Hogwarts... even more difficult than the marauders... however, it was also because of your abilities and fun nature that you have come up with something that will keep us smiling in these dark times... Keep doing the mischief... keep smiling and making everyone else smile... for that is the greatest gift of all you can give to anyone... the ability to make someone smile is second nature for you two..."

As Dumbledore finished addressing the twins, Harry immediately turned to look at the Weasleys in a worried way; Dumbledore's memory did not know Fred had died. Harry was glad to see that although George and Molly were crying but it was with a smile at the speaker. He, Harry on the other hand just wasn't feeling anything... as if he didn't know how or what to feel.

"Ronald Weasley... upon my death... as per my will... you will receive a personal item of mine... of my own design... The use of that item will allow you to learn about your strengths... as well as your weaknesses... You have already learned about your family and its historical significance... and now you might be one of the people mentioned in the prophecy... So in the hard times to come... in light of the prophecy... whenever it may occur... always remember to be confident in yourself and stay true to your friends and family... for that should be your main driving force in life..."

"Ginevra Weasley... you are an amazing child; to have shown the strength and maturity to bounce back from what happened to you in your first year is an amazing feat all in itself... And I am sure that is because of your strong character... as well as what you learned from an equally strong mother... also maybe because you had six elder brothers... that said... being mentioned specifically in a prophecy and an important prophecy at that... can be overwhelming for the best of us; however, I am also sure that the development and growth I have seen in you over the past five years... shows that you have the courage and resolve to handle this responsibility... I apologize for intruding but I have watched you and Harry on a fair few occasions when you two slipped out of the castle to go relax near the lake this year... you both reminded me a lot of how James and Lily used to be in their last year at Hogwarts... Take care of that bond and it may just be the thing that gets you and Harry through any difficult times ahead..."

"Augusta... Neville and Abe; I am extremely sorry for doing what I did... But it was all I could think of to keep them safe... It might not have been the best decision I made... but it was the only thing I believed at that time that could allow them to live long enough to fulfil the prophecy... I have constantly asked the McKinnon children... Rose... and Anna... the same thing throughout the past few years that I am now asking you... Please... find it in your hearts to forgive me... Neville... your parents would be proud of the brave man you are turning out to be... The way you care about your friends is truly a gift in its own right..."

"Minerva... Remus... and Kingsley... I hope that you three survived the battle too and are now involved in the setting back up of the school... helping to rebuild anything that may have been destroyed or lost during the course of time between this memory and Voldemort's defeat... and re-setting of the ministry as the way it was supposed to be... After Thomas was killed and the Flamell's passed away... you Minerva... was an amazing friend and confidant; for that I am truly grateful... I am sorry to have kept you in the dark about various things but alas... that is how I had become used to taking care of everything over the years... "

"Kingsley... hopefully your seniority will help you earn the slot of Minister by unanimous vote from the Wizengmot and Heads of Departments... Remember to take care of everyone... not just muggles... witches... and wizards... but all magical creatures too... I do have a request of you and Minerva regarding the McKinnons... Help them back into our world... they won't require your help to take stands or use their inheritances for the good of everyone as they are very much capable of that... However... people will not understand why they were hidden... by whom... for what purpose... why they never came out to help Harry and you all... It is to you two I am turning to for this purpose... Rest assured they are up to date in terms of knowledge about the people I trust and to what extent... Kingsley... I believe that with the help of the McKinnons... Harry coming of age... and Rose being alive and married to Sirius... your official ascension to Minister of Magic should go smoothly..."

"Remus... my dear old student and friend... I am glad that you found happiness amid all that is happening around us... I am happy for you and Tonks... Take care of her and she will never let you drown in your sorrows again... I can guarantee it... "

"Hermione Granger, you definitely are one the most talented... brightest... hard working witch to have crossed the Halls of Hogwarts... I am proud to have been a part of the time when you came here... If not for the fact that you are in Gryffindor and not in Ravenclaw... I would have immediately assumed it was you the Prophecy was referring to... however... I fear you will still be a part of it because you are most likely going to help Harry destroy the pieces... As far as keeping your cousins hidden and not allowing you all to meet... I will repeat the same words... I apologize... You may get angry with me... you have every right to, but it will make you feel happy to know that your cousins left no chance ever... to scream... rage... or shout at me for not letting them contact you... or in quite a few instances hex me... I am proud to say I always allowed them to hex me... as I knew it was the only way they could vent out their frustrations... I hope your reunion will be as good as any... I leave to you the book compiled by Merlin about the translation and understanding of all Runic Symbols... You may use it to decipher and complete the Prophecy at the earliest... After you have done so... as a gift... I give you permission to make a copy and keep it with you forever... however, you must return the original to Professor McGonagall who will then ensure... with the aid of Professor Vector... to arrange for the book to be properly recognized as a historical item... its discovery to be credited to Nicolas and Perenelle... and published for help in teaching future generations..."

"Harry... if you are alive... if you have succeeded... Thank you... for believing in me even after I made so many mistakes in the last six years where you were concerned... ever since you arrived at Hogwarts... And now... like a stuck recorder I will ask for your forgiveness as I asked from everyone else... I know I kept you away from a chance to grow up with a loving family by keeping Rose and her daughter hidden... but hopefully you will one day accept my apologies and accept the reasons for doing so... I must warn you beforehand about a few things... firstly, Rose has been deprived of the opportunity to perform her responsibilities as a Godmother... so do not be frightened if she seems to be trying extremely hard to do what she feels she should have been doing since you were orphaned... In short... let her coddle you as much as she wants... even though you get a lot of that from Molly..."

He winked at that and then added with a smile

"... but do not push Rose or Molly away for doing so... Secondly, I never got the chance to train you in the art of duelling and fighting... because I believe that will not be as important to fight Voldemort as your power to love will be... However, I also believe that to fight this new evil... mentioned in the prophecy... will require you and everyone else mentioned in it to be adept at duelling and having adequate knowledge... learn and train as much as you can... ask for help without being shy... regardless of who you ask help from... be it an elder... a peer... or a younger person... Please remember that if you defeat Voldemort and survive... the world will always look to you again and again when new threats rise... I have been through this after the defeat of Grindewald and the rise of Voldemort... so I am telling you from experience... I also know from experience that you will try to act alone or take responsibility..."

"... DON'T DO THAT...DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID... I TRIED TO TAKE ALL OF THE RESPONSIBILITY ON MYSELF AND THAT HAS LED TO THIS DAY... you are ALL in this together and together you must do whatever is required of you..."

"Now... this is farewell... with my final words I must add that even after you complete the translation of the Prophecy... remember to live fully regardless of anything that tries to bring you down... It is not necessary that the new threat will emerge immediately... It might be two to three years by my estimation... however, that does not mean that you become complacent either... help each other to keep an ear to the ground as they say... take care of each other and grow old and make your own legacies... All of you..."

"Farewell!"

That said, the memory of Dumbledore vanished and Harry, like the rest of the audience did not move or even blink. They all just stared at the place where the Pensieve stood still.

*** Chapter End ***

 **Important Note to the Readers:** Anyone who wants to see the Prophecy in Runic Symbols and count the number of lines of the Prophecy please look at the image of the story; I am sorry about the Prophecy missing from Chapter 3 but the document publish manager does not allow the Prophecy portion to be displayed after publishing for some technical reason. I believe it is a Font issue. Apologies...


	5. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer**_ : J. K. Rowling is the creator and owner of Harry Potter and majority of the characters in this story. I would like to thank her for creating such an amazing world where writers can let their imagination and creativity run amok. No intention of profit making is intended from the writing or use of her materials.

 _ **Review Replies:**_

Scrappy8: Thank you!

 **Chapter 4**

Harry was so shocked... he felt numb... he had no idea how to react or respond to what had just transpired... In fact, Harry had no idea on which topic should he even think first...

The Oldest Prophecy...

Rose... His Godmother... Sirius' wife...

Anna... Sirius' daughter...

The McKinnons... Cousins of Hermione...

Weasleys... Gryffindor's descendants...

And then... the most nagging thought of all came to surface...

This thought was so familiarly fearful and bursting with frustrations that he felt his lungs were being forced to stop inhaling...

'IT' was supposed to be all over...

'IT' was supposed to have ended with Riddle's death...

How could this be...?

How could Dumbledore say that at the end after learning all this...?

That... That... regardless... he must try to live now...?

That is freaking absurd...

How is that bloody possible...?

Knowing that another threat... possibly greater... was on the horizon... live and go on...?

This... this was all too much for Harry... his mind was going into overdrive... regardless of the last words of Dumbledore's memory... Harry felt trapped... like in one of the compartments of Moody's trunk...

Before Harry could vent out loud his frustrations... he got up abruptly and bolted out of the room.

He did not know where he was going or if anyone was following him... frankly he didn't care... he just followed his angry and frustrated strides and realised only later... when he stopped... that he had gone straight for the Headmaster's... No the Headmistress's office...

Harry knew what he wanted to do... he wanted to scream and shout at Dumbledore's portrait... exactly like he had done at the end of his fifth year at Hogwarts when Sirius had died... only… at that time he had done so at the stile alive version... break a few things... smash the bloody windows...

With these thoughts in his mind... and resolving not to take any ' _no_ ' or ' _Silence_ ' for an answer... even if the portrait was asleep... Harry growled at the Gargoyle to let him through... as he did not know the new password...

Surprisingly... it obliged… Harry jumped on to the moving staircase, impatiently waiting for it to ascend fast and lead to the door to the office.

Upon arriving, Harry didn't wait to listen if there were any voices coming from the other side or not. He just noisily opened it and barged in targeting the portrait he was seeking with his angry eyes.

The portrait was wide awake and sitting in his chair, hands clasped underneath his chin and eyes observing Harry from over the half-moon spectacles.

Looking at his calmness... Harry was angered even more... if that was possible... and just vented everything out on him without taking any breath...

"HOW IS THIS BLOODY FAIR?"

"HOW COULD THIS BE?"

"AFTER… AFTER ALL... AFTER ALL WE WENT THROUGH?

"WAS IT... WAS IT FOR NOTHING?"

"WE WERE JUST FIGHTING THE INEVITABLE?"

"THIS NEW EVIL WAS EXPECTED TO RISE REGARDLESS THAT WE HAD SURVIVED OR NOT?"

"HOW IS THIS FAIRRRR!?"

...

"NO!"

"ENOUGH!"

"I WILL NOT TAKE THIS ANYMORE!"

"I WILL NOT TAKE PART IN THIS!"

"WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS FATEEEE...?"

Harry literally screamed the last part with such force that it caused him to turn red, his breath completely gone and his voice cracked as he fell on his knees.

He could feel the tears rolling down his cheeks, while his eyes were closed but he didn't care. He tried opening them and was able to look dejectedly at his numb hands through a blurred teary eyed vision.

Only one thought was circling in his head...

Nothing was as it was supposed to be... As he had wanted... as he had desired…

After going through all that... Once Voldemort fell and Harry realized he had survived... He wanted to be normal for once...

Suddenly, someone hugged Harry from behind, wrapping their arms around him tightly and placing his head gently on the base of their neck.

Harry couldn't recognize nor cared who it was, but the hug was enough to slowly start to calm his breathing if not stopping his tears.

After a fair few minutes, when Harry finally felt a little bit composed he started to fidget so as to inform the person that he wanted to get free. The person released the hold but kept their hands on his shoulders while letting him move and turn around to face them.

Eyes electric blue in colour stared back at Harry with warmth.

Harry stared at the person for a minute... scrutinising her face... her features... noticing her white blonde hair rolled up in an elegant bun... then suddenly... he realized who she was...

"Rose?" Harry asked in a horse whisper, wiping tears from his face.

The person who had hugged him so lovingly and allowed him to regain composure smiled at his words and nodded.

She raised Harry up with surprising strength... still keeping a firm hold on his shoulders... and guided him to one of the guest chairs nearby.

As Harry sat down... he glanced at Dumbledore's portrait and saw him still sitting in that same position, calm as ever but with his usual twinkle back in his eyes... probably because of the emotional display... Harry thought.

Rose meanwhile kept herself standing behind Harry and did not let go of his shoulders.

Harry didn't mind... in fact it helped him gain clarity on forming words to question Albus' portrait... so he conveyed his gratitude to Rose in a horse low voice, "Thank you..."

Rose squeezed his shoulder in response.

Harry, focusing on the late headmaster asked in the same hoarse voice, "Professor... Why...?"

With a deep sigh, Albus Dumbledore straightened himself but kept seated in the chair and nodded acknowledging Harry.

"My dear boy... I am truly… very sorry... I wish I could tell you that it is not true... but sadly it is…. I cannot tell you how angry I was upon realizing that it may mean you... unfortunately… that is how fate works..."

After a small pause he resumed.

"The trauma I went through at the time of Arianna's death... and then the confrontation with Grindewald... was... I felt... at the time ... too much... however, fate had two new challenges in store and lined up for me... first... the issue of Voldemort and simultaneously the burden of deciphering the oldest prophecy as much as possible..."

Dumbledore was quiet for a few seconds again and then continued.

"As a portrait I cannot talk in long stretches like my memory form did as there is a limited amount of magic usable for portraits… after which rest is necessary for it to replenish; so... I will keep this concise and to the point... Yes, I promise I will not speak in riddles..."

With a deep sigh he continued...

"Harry... I believe that all human beings... muggles, wizards and witches alike... are meant to do something significant in their lives... that significant something will always be important in one shape or another but it can be good or bad in nature. The choices we make in our lives... ultimately decide whether that significant something that we are meant to do... will be good or bad..."

"Look at Tom Riddle... regardless of all the evil and abhorrent things he did... you cannot deny the fact that that person was an intelligent, knowledgeable and genius individual... he was meant to learn all those brilliant pieces of knowledge by fate... yet his choices made his actions become vile and loathsome... similarly... I was also branded as a gifted, knowledgeable and intelligent person... but my choices made me... in my honest opinion... both... good and bad..."

"Bad for example because I still wanted Arianna back in my life when she was gone but did not give her the attention she needed when she was alive... nor did I attend to my grieving younger brother..."

"So... always remember Harry... ' _Choices_ '... It is what makes you who you want to be and makes possible what you want to do..."

"By all means you may run away to some far off place and live and enjoy the life you now have... which wasn't a possibility when Voldemort was alive... you even have the financial resources to do so without any worry I dare say... you have earned the right to be happy by any definition of this world and no one... absolutely no one... not even the prophecy can stop you from doing so..."

"However... if there is one thing we have learned from the whole Tom Riddle fiasco... is that our choices have a very profound impact on our future..."

"So it is up to you to decide and make the choice... whether you want to go off and live like a hermit... in an undisclosed location... to live out your new life in peace and tranquillity... which is well deserved I might add... or... you may choose to stay and try to do both... live your life to the fullest among friends and family... and… face whatever is thrown at you by Fate and Life bravely... like you have always done..."

Dumbledore got up after finishing his speech and went out of the portrait. Harry just stared at the empty cancas... his eyes unfocused... mind deep in thought... trying to digest Dumbledore's words.

There was a mental battle going on in Harry's mind... on one hand... he had the choice to just walk away from all this... it was quite tempting... going away from all of it... away from the constant worries... whereas... if he stayed here... he would have to keep living a life of ' _constant vigilance_ ' like old Moody used to say... looking over his back... being wary of any sudden danger around the corner... not being able to enjoy his life with friends or think of having a family even...family... that brought back Ron... Hermione... Ginny... in his mind...

Finally he realized... he had been so stupid... the answer was there all along... the prophecy wasn't talking about just one or two persons like last time... it was a bunch of people... including Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny... they had all stayed by him when he needed them... he couldn't leave them now... and then he remembered the person who was holding his shoulders and he turned around to look at Rose... properly for the first time...

This was his Godmother... Harry now had a family as well of sorts... at this realization a huge smile broke on his face... If he wanted to become an Auror... this was always going to be ' _The_ ' challenge... to juggle danger and life on a daily basis... at length, remembering his mother's last words to him at the life and death crossroads...Harry relaxed...

Seeing him turn around to first look at her and then smile; was probably what caused Rose to smile back. Not knowing what to say or do now, Harry asked her the first thing that came to his mind,

"Where's Anna?"

Smiling wider, Rose replied, "I dropped her off at Grandfather's place... above the Hogshead; I didn't know how he would react after seeing us suddenly appearing out of nowhere just when the war had ended... I had to be sure he had been told everything before we met..."

Harry nodded, trying to understand what she meant.

After a moment of silence Harry asked, "How did you get inside the castle?"

With another mischievous smile... very much like the marauders... she simply replied, "I flew from the Hogshead; Uncle Albus had already given me the new password for the head's office when McGonagall changed it..."

At his confused look she added, "I have another of his talking pictures..."

Finally making sense of that mystery, Harry went quiet again.

Before Harry could think on what else to ask she spoke up first, "Will you take me to where the others are...? I would very much like to meet them all... especially Grandfather..."

Nodding Harry got up and led the way out of the office and back towards the Transfiguration classroom.

*** POV Change ***

The silence followed by Harry's abrupt departure was broken by Ginny who got up to follow him.

However, she was stopped midway by a voice from behind, "Let him be, Miss Weasley... I have a feeling that I know where he has gone... I have already made it possible that he will reach his destination without hindrance... Albus' portrait had warned me that after watching these memories Mr. Potter might react in such a manner..."

Ginny turned to look at the speaker; it was Professor McGonagall who had called out to her. Before Ginny could do anything else, there was a knock on the door which caught her attention.

Being nearest to it she looked over at McGonagall and Kingsley inquiringly; when both nodded she opened the door. It was one of the Aurors, upon seeing her open the door he said,

"Is the Minister here...? I need to inform him about something..."

Ginny looked over to where Kingsley was last time she had checked but he had already reached her himself by this time; upon nearing he asked the Auror,

"Yes?"

"Minister... Professor Hagrid and the Aurors guarding the grounds entrance have informed that there are two people at the school gates asking to be allowed to enter; they say their names are Irvine and Eileen… They are not disclosing their surnames and insist that their first names will be enough for you or the headmistress to allow them inside..."

Kingsley nodded and addressed the people in the room, "I'll be back... I'll bring the siblings inside..."

That said he went out closely followed by the Auror; Ginny closed the door behind them and went to sit back in her seat. As she sat, the thoughts that she had been repressing ever since the memory had ended came back to the surface...

'What did this all mean...?'

'She Ginny was part of an ancient prophecy...?'

'Her family were descendants of one of the founders of Hogwarts...?'

Nothing was making sense at all.

To distract herself she looked around the room and saw that nearly everyone was deeply engrossed in their own thoughts and nobody was talking or discussing what had just transpired.

Even her parents... who would usually be freaking out at such a bizarre turn of events... were lost in their own thoughts.

It was while roving her eyes over the classroom's inhabitants that Ginny's eyes met Charlie's.

He was not exactly thinking... like everyone else... more accurately... he was staring... at her…

Ginny got up and made a beeline towards him to talk.

Charlie was the first real Quidditch fanatic of the family and had been the main instigator in pushing Ginny to grab a broom and fly in her free time at home.

As she neared, he also got up and pointed her towards a pair of empty seats at the back, away from everyone. They both sat down Ginny asked him,

"What's bothering you...? Why were you staring at me like that when everyone else was just thinking to themselves...?"

With a rugged and calloused hand he stroked his hair backwards once... which Ginny knew was a sign of frustration for him... and then looked at Ginny in a very dejected sort of way...

"I promised myself... I promised I would never let anything bad near you... let alone let it happen to you... after your first year here... and fate just kept spitting back in my face nearly every other year you spent at Hogwarts... you going to the ministry and fighting death eaters in your fourth year... fighting death eaters in the castle in your fifth year... and Merlin knows what you went through this year while it was under the control of the death eaters... I still want to know that… and now fate has just spat back at me again by naming you in a prophecy that is one of the oldest one in recorded history and has a huge importance in our future..."

Charlie was one brother Ginny never got angry at for looking out for her... she didn't know why... but it had always been so... she just never felt bad when he did the elder brother protective act... because she knew it was his nature... having a strong personality... loving the outdoors... the wild... he preferred that way of life... to protect fiercely but from afar... not suffocating or pampering... but looking out from a fair distance...

With a small crooked smile Ginny replied to address his concerns the best she could, "Well we can't really do anything about it right...? What was it that you used to say in such circumstances... something about the dragon's pranced out of the paddock... or something?"

With a smile Charlie replied, "The dragon's hatched and pranced out of the paddock, fire's inevitable, move on and prepare, or get burnt..."

"Yeah exactly... plus... I am not alone... I have my family and friends with me... I'd really like to see this new evil face Mum after what she did to Bellatrix!" replied Ginny and started giggling at her own joke.

Charlie couldn't help but join in and smile... she could always make him do that.

"Now let's change the topic... we'll think on the prophecy later... tell me... have you gotten hitched yet or not... or are you still brooding on that ' _dream-girl_ ' of yours...?" said Ginny poking Charlie in the ribs.

Charlie smiled at her jibe and said, "You know that's a secret only you know squirt... and yes... the ' _dream-girl_ ' is still there... I keep getting flashes of her now and then... but for some odd reason I am always just a bit late in finishing that dream to make her turn around to look at me... and no I haven't been able to find her... not yet anyway..."

*** POV Change ***

As Harry rounded the corner of the transfiguration corridor, followed closely by Rose; Kingsley appeared at the other end followed by two people Harry had not seen before...

They all reached the classroom door at the same time and came to a stop… to Harry It felt like nobody knew how to react… Harry was staring behind Kingsley... suddenly realizing these must be Hermione's cousins... The McKinnons...

The silence was broken by the young lady behind Kingsley who stretched out her hand confidently and said, "Hello Harry, It's nice to finally meet you... I am Eileen… and this is my brother Irvine..."

Harry shook her hand and turned to do the same with Irvine who also raised his hand to shake but didn't say anything. Rose meanwhile was introducing herself to Kingsley and after a brief chat she turned to the siblings and exchanged pleasantries with them.

Kingsley opened the door to the classroom and gestured Harry and the others to enter.

As Harry entered, he rapidly scanned the room to search the seats for Ginny before she hexed him... He didn't need to look far; she was already making her way towards him from the end of the classroom where she had been sitting beside Charlie…

Upon reaching him she furrowed her eyebrows and said with her hands on her hips, "Are you ok or should I Hex you...?"

Harry smiled back at her and said, "I'm not entirely... but... I will be... as long as you don't hex me..."

Harry could tell his half cooked truth mixed with a joke was received well since she did not reach for her wand and the mischief in her eyes was evident as her hands relaxed and came to rest beside her.

Just then Kingsley cleared his throat and announced to the room,

"Everyone this is Rose–"

His words were broken by Aberforth who had by this time crossed the room and enveloped Rose in a tight hug.

Giving them space and time, Kingsley beckoned everyone else away from them and moved nearer to the larger crowd.

To Harry's amusement, this time Kingsley didn't even need to announce or say anything since it was Hermione who had launched herself at Eileen with tears of joy in her eyes.

Hermione was crying her head off at Eileen's shoulder and although Eileen was also teary eyed but she was stroking her bushy hair and repeating the same words, "I'm sorry... I am so sorry... I wanted to help you... to be there for you... but I couldn't... I'm so so sorry Hermione..."

Hermione couldn't form words in reply so she just kept shaking her head to convey her response. Meanwhile, Irvine just stood beside them staring at the reunion with a small smile.

Ginny nudged Harry and he looked at her to see her pointing with her eyes towards the side; realizing what she meant he obliged and let her lead them away from the family.

Kingsley had already gone back to sit with McGonagall and was involved in an animated discussion with her... in fact it looked like Arthur and Molly were also involved now but more in the sense of listening rather than speaking…

Ron meanwhile came to join Harry and Ginny and stand by them whilst observing both reunions.

Finally Rose and Aberforth composed themselves first... Rose backed away and wiped her face with a handkerchief as did Aberforth after conjuring a pair for them both…

Aberforth said something to Rose in her ear, put an assuring hand on her shoulder for a brief few seconds to which she nodded with a smile and left the classroom...

Seeing them standing to one side, Rose made her way towards Harry.

Smiling she approached them and asked, "So... these two Weasley redheads must be Ron and Ginny... Right, Harry?"

Harry smiled in response and said, "Yes... Ron is one of my two best friends and this is Ginny my girlfriend."

Rose stretched out her hand to shake with both of them.

Just then Charlie approached them from his chair in the back and stretched out his hand too, "Hello Rose, I'm Charlie Weasley."

As they shook hands, Harry realized the room was relatively quiet, he glanced around and saw Hermione... who had now composed herself... was talking quietly to Irvine...

The group of McGonagall and Kingsley which now included Bill, Percy, Fleur and Mrs Longbottom in addition to Arthur and Molly... was also talking quietly in one corner...

Eileen meanwhile had approached Harry's group and was standing behind Rose staring at Harry. Harry followed her gaze and saw that she was actually staring behind him... at Charlie...

Eileen disregarding everyone around her and quietly kept going towards him until she reached near touching distance... everyone else backed away to observe... curious at her behaviour...

Charlie meanwhile looked confused but not afraid and didn't back away... probably from taming dragons for so long... and politely said,

"umm... Hi... Eileen... right...?"

Eileen just nodded but didn't speak.

Charlie... probably confused at her actions tried again,

"Have we met before...?"

Again Eileen just nodded and didn't respond...

This reaction made Charlie as well as the onlookers stare wide-eyed at her. By this time the whole room was observing this interaction.

Charlie tried again, "I'm sorry... I don't remember –"

Eileen cut him off,

"That's because you have a memory charm on you..."

Now Charlie stared flabbergasted at her and sputtered,

"I... What...?"

Eileen pulled out her wand from her Jeans and said,

"May I...?"

Charlie just nodded, never taking off his furrowed confused eyes from her...

Just then Ginny gasped and Harry and Ron flipped their heads towards her...

'What?' they both said at the same time to her...

Ginny without taking her eyes off of her second eldest brother and Eileen, spoke from behind her hand on her mouth in a barely audible whisper,

"It's her..."

When she didn't say anything else, Harry looked at Ron, Ron looked at Harry both looking for an explanation... realizing that both were equally stunned... they turned their attention back to the exchange...

Eileen had her eyes closed, her wand pointing at Charlie's temple and she was whispering an incantation inaudible to Harry and his group.

As soon as she finished, a white light emanated from her wand and went into Charlie's temple... at which point he immediately closed his eyes too as if surprised at the sudden intrusion... then reopened them immediately... this time wider... as if realizing something so simple...

Without looking, without caring who was watching Charlie grabbed Eileen and hugged her... and she returned it...

Now it was the room's entire occupants turn to stare at the two...

Only Irvine seemed to be nonchalant about the display... he waited probably a minute before clearing his throat quite loudly...

Charlie immediately split away and looked slightly abashed but Eileen gave her brother a death-glare... to which he responded with a 'What?'...

Eileen's glare however, was interrupted by George, who announced, "Thank Merlin... we were worried mate..." and started laughing.

In response, only the Weasley children smiled at George as the others... including Harry... didn't understand the joke.

Harry looked at Ron and Ginny with a bewildered expression when Ginny replied,

"We used to tease him for being single..."

Realizing the reason for the joke Harry made a big ' _O_ ' and then joined them in smiling alongside her and Ron...

Remembering he never understood what Ginny had said earlier Harry asked her, "What did you mean when you said, ' _It's Her...?_ '"

Ron's curiosity piquing too, turned to look inquisitively at Ginny upon hearing Harry's question...

With a sigh Ginny replied while pointing at the two, "I'm not sure how much of the story is mine to tell... I think it would be better if you hear it from both of them... Even I don't know everything... All I know about is Charlie's recurring dreams about a girl..."

Kingsley then decided to take charge and addressed the whole classroom, "I think we should all sit down together and talk..."

Not waiting for a reply, he brandished his wand at the seats and arranged enough of them in a huge circle so that they could seat everyone in one circular line. It was amusing to note that he did so in such a fashion that the already seated people didn't have to move, the chairs arranged themselves around them.

Kingsley led his group to sit near the centre of the circled chairs facing the door.

Charlie gestured Eileen to sit beside him, she didn't object.

Hermione led Irvine to where Harry and the others were and after introducing Ron and Ginny they all took a seat in the circled seating.

When everyone was seated, they all stared at the centre where McGonagall and Kingsley were sitting with the Weasley Parents on their one side and Augusta Longbottom on the other, to start.

Realizing with a startle probably that everyone was expecting him to address Kingsley cleared his throat and began,

"Well this has been one amazing day I must say... after winning the war… starting to rebuild was the main agenda... but... the unfolding of events in the past... three hours maybe... has been astonishing to say the least... however, Albus's memory was right... we shall all work through everything that comes our way in time... and together... since there is no immediate threat as far as we know... we should focus on the present... "

With a sigh he took a breath and then continued,

"Minerva, Arthur, Molly, Bill, Percy, Fleur, Augusta and I have had a brief discussion... we think that the day after tomorrow for a mass funeral in the Hogwarts grounds will be appropriate...in similar fashion as we did for Albus... but on a larger scale and for a bigger capacity crowd... I will finalize the arrangements with the help of other ministry officials who have returned and inform the Daily Prophet to publish the details in tomorrow morning's as well as evening's paper so that we will have a day... i.e. tomorrow... to prepare for it in terms of arrangements of travel and accommodation of a large gathering including muggle parents... "

"As soon as I and Minerva get free from this meeting we will be meeting with Griselda Marchbanks to discuss a number of issues including opening of Hogwarts... calling up a meeting of the school's Board of Governors... and an urgent meeting of the Wizengmot..."

"Now as I understand... our most pressing issue will be the announcement of the appearance of Rose, Anna, Eileen and Irvine... over the top of my head the only plausible explanation of their sudden appearance I can think of to give to everyone else is that the Order of the Phoenix obtained information about some important prisoners held by Voldemort and the death eaters... upon investigation, they were found and released from captivity... but we will release this information in three to four days from now... so till then they will have to keep a very low profile..."

Kingsley was silent after this announcement and stared around looking the group to gauge any form of reaction from anyone.

It was Rose who broke the silence...

"I think that sounds fine... I can't find any particular loophole in that... as long as we play our cards right..."

When both Eileen and Irvine nodded, Kingsley continued... "Right... Rose you will stay with Aberforth for the time being...?"

She nodded in response.

Acknowledging, Kingsley turned to the McKinnons,

"And you will go back to the Manor that Albus mentioned you were hidden...?"

Eileen nodded but Irvine interrupted,

"For the night at least yes... but we will stay here during the daytime... we can remain well hidden... do not worry about that... but we will be available for any sort of help... even if it is under a disguise..."

Kingsley acknowledged him with a nod and turned to Harry.

"Right then... Harry... I was wondering if you and your friends would take out the time tomorrow to recount as much as possible of what happened in the past year... Albus told me and Remus to trust you and we did... but we all would like some clarity on that task that was assigned to you... I believe I speak for a lot of people when I say that there are still some unanswered questions from the speech you gave before supper... although we have handled the press well which will keep them at bay for a while... but to ensure there is no more breach of the subject after one detailed publication I will need you to recount as much as you can… we can then decide which information can be public knowledge and which cannot..."

Everyone's gaze turned to him.

Harry had been waiting for this, he hadn't expected it to happen so early but he was expecting it nevertheless. With a deep sigh he replied,

"Yeah... I think that will be ok... but it will be difficult to recount each and everything accurately... It would be a lot easier on all three of us if we could somehow show you all our memories in a pensieve... though I do not know how to... to siphon out memories…"

McGonagall spoke up at that,

"Don't worry Potter, I will teach you and anyone else... who might want to share their memories... we can do that tomorrow after breakfast if that is ok with everyone who wants to learn...?"

There was a murmured consent and bunch of nodding after which everyone was silent again for a while.

Kingsley then resumed, "Well then that's settled... we will meet up again tomorrow... Minerva will decide and inform us where... for now... I believe that's more than enough for today... even this will require a lot of thought processing I daresay... but that is a start to understanding what happened... what to expect... and rebuilding what we have lost..."

That said Kingsley got up, had a brief chat with McGonagall and bid farewell to everyone in general and moved towards the door.

Irvine suddenly got up and went after him, stopped him before leaving and had a quick discussion with him before returning to the gathering.

McGonagall then addressed the lot, "Arthur, Molly, Rose, Augusta, Bill, Fleur, Percy... meet me in my office in a few minutes...?"

They all nodded and she turned to the others, "You all now go rest... especially you Potter... remember what the healers told you... I will see you all... and anyone else who wishes to learn how to siphon out memories into a Pensieve... tomorrow in my office after breakfast."

Acknowledging her, Harry, Ron, Ginny, George, Hermione and Neville also got up to leave.

"Charlie... Eileen... invitation to my office is open to you two as well... however... I have an inkling you both need some time to yourselves to sort out things...?"

Both smiled at her astute observation and nodded.

Arthur then spoke up while addressing his second born,

"I hope that you will enlighten us soon as to what happened between you two that caused Eileen to memory charm you into forgetting... it's only for so long I can hold off your mother from sending a barrage of questions at you..."

Molly ' _Hushed_ ' him admonishingly but didn't say anything to add.

"We promise Dad... Mum... Professor McGonagall... we will explain everything tomorrow... right now even I am a bit confused on some parts..." Charlie responded.

Upon receiving their understanding nods both got up and took their leave. They stopped to talk to Irvine who had been standing afar watching everyone; after a brief discussion with him they left the classroom.

Harry and his group who had gotten up to leave stopped near Irvine as well and Hermione asked him,

"Will you be ok alone...? You can stay here the night...? You... you don't have to be alone anymore..."

Irvine gave a crooked smile at that and said, "Hermione, living alone is now second nature to us... plus, I have our house-elf to irritate me so don't worry I'll be fine…"

Harry and Ron both glanced immediately at Hermione to see her reaction upon hearing this news about the ' _house-elf_ ' and the word ' _irritate_ ' in the same sentence.

But to their surprise, she hadn't reacted, not yet anyway.

Irvine thumped Neville on the shoulder and said,

"Will you guide me out to the grounds...?"

Neville nodded and moved to go with him. Addressing the remaining people Irvine said,

"See you all tomorrow... I'll bring some surprising memories for you all to see as well..."

Stopping the sentence in that cryptic way he followed Neville out of the classroom.

After a long silence as everyone stared at various different spots thinking, Harry suddenly felt quite tired and a bit of pain in few of the injured regions of his body. Shaking his head of all thoughts he said to the others,

"Let's go rest guys... I really do feel tired now..."

Ginny reacted first, grabbed his hand and dragged him out of the classroom followed by a shout of ' _Oiii_...' from Ron.

Amused by her abrupt response, Harry allowed to be led out. Hearing footsteps behind him he could tell his best friends were also following behind.

***POV change***

Seeing them all leave, McGonagall addressed the people still sitting with her,

"Shall we move to my office then...?"

Everybody nodded and got up to leave.

McGonagall led the group out and made her way to the Headmistress office. Upon reaching the door after getting off the revolving staircase she opened is and invited everyone in. She conjured extra chairs for accommodating everyone. When everyone was settled in, she asked politely,

"Would anyone like a nightcap...?

Everyone accepted except for Fleur and McGonagall summoned a house-elf and requested it to bring everyone seated, as well as two extra for a couple of more guests expected… a beverage and something to nibble like biscuits.

While they waited, Kingsley finally arrived along with Griselda Marchbanks tagging behind him.

McGonagall arranged chairs for both and they all became seated as Griselda exchanged pleasantries; just then the house-elf returned with the requested edibles.

As everyone settled in with one drink or another, McGonagall breached one of the many topics circling everyone's mind.

"Everyone, we have a fair few items on our agenda for discussion... first and foremost for tomorrow is... meeting with the board of governors of the school... Professor Griselda Marchbanks is a member and she has agreed to help arrange the same on short notice tomorrow, an hour or so after breakfast..."

"What we all need to decide and reach a consensus on is... the reopening of the school on September 1st... allowing everyone who missed... or was unable to attend... or had to withdraw last year... to come back and obtain or finish their schooling... arrangements for their respective accommodations... since the number of students will be a record high in the best case scenario if everyone is willing to return... and any other options for students that we can think of in helping everyone affected by the war to finish or complete their courses partially or completely... lastly... the most pressing matter of vacant teachers posts and the Headmaster or Headmistress duties..."

"Professor Marchbanks... would you like to add anything to this agenda...?"

"No Minerva that is the entirety of the urgent things we must attend to I believe... I have had a lot of time to think since our last discussion on the topics at the feast... I believe I have a solution for most of these issues... firstly... since the school has been so miraculously restored to its original state... I believe it should not be a problem to reopen on September 1st... secondly... I will personally move the motion in the board meeting planned for tomorrow, to allow all students... regardless of their age... to attend the school year they missed or was brought to an abrupt end... all children who were supposed to be first years last year but did not attend either from fear or from not receiving their letters for being muggleborn must be allowed and encouraged to attend and start this coming September... We owe it to them... Thirdly... any student, regardless of which year they belonged to must be allowed to repeat their respective years... fourth... all OWL and NEWT students who were disturbed during their study or were not allowed to attend last year should be allowed two options... if the students wish to attend only one term and take their exams... be it OWL or NEWT... they be allowed to do so...and others who decide to stay for a full year of study and then take their exams should also be allowed to do so..."

Taking a deep breath she said,

"I know it will be a bit of a hassle for us examiners to arrange two exams for both OWLS and NEWTS each in the coming year... but it can... no... It should be done to give an equal opportunity to everyone..."

Everybody was silent at this proclamation for a while; finally Molly Weasley spoke up,

"I agree... it is the best possible course under the circumstances... this way we won't force anything on the students and they will feel happier knowing they can decide on their fates themselves... especially the OWL and NEWT students..."

When everyone else also murmured their consent, Professor Marchbanks continued,

"Right then... Lastly... the issue of vacant teachers posts and Head duties... Minerva you do not wish to take the Head responsibilities...?"

McGonagall was deep in thought for a while, looking at the cup in her hands; after a momentary pause she replied,

"I will take on the Head responsibilities... however; it will not be for a longer stretch... I am not so young anymore and the war did take a bit of toll on me... I will be retiring in a few years..."

Marchbanks nodded acknowledging then said, "What about Filius... Is he up to the task to take up the deputy headmaster duties and later on the Headmaster duties upon your retirement...?"

"I did have a word with him on that... he is willing to take the deputy responsibilities only if necessary... but he is not that enthusiastic about them nor for any further elevation either... he prefers his teaching and research activities more... so... I did not push him..."

Marchbanks nodded again and replied,

"I see... is there anyone else senior or capable enough to take up the mantle after you...? Slughorn... Sprout... Vector...?"

McGonagall taking another sip from her cup replied,

"Well... Slughorn is senior and experienced enough... but I think he is not suitable based on his tendency to favour particular set of students... plus he also prefers teaching and does not wish to take any further responsibilities other than being Head of Slytherin house... Albus already brought him out of retirement once... similarly Vector is more the research preferring type teacher and will not be suitable for the post... Pomona... Sprout… has already informed me that she will be retiring after a few years like me... though she has promised to arrange a suitable replacement before leaving... No... I think we might have to look outside the school to fill up all three vacancies... Muggle Studies... Transfiguration... Defence against the Dark Arts... and a Deputy Head willing and able enough to take the responsibilities after my retirement..."

Again silence fell in the office... not even the old Headmasters and Headmistresses were making a sound while this small group thought of how to solve this problem.

Professor Marchbanks spoke up first,

"Well... it is obvious Minerva that when you take on the Headmistress duties you will need a good replacement for Transfiguration... do you have anyone in mind... any bright students you taught over the years who were gifted in that area...?"

McGonagall was looking out the window having just taken a sip of the hot liquid in her cup... after a moment she replied,

"Only three people have been extremely gifted in that field over the past two decades... two of them are dead... however... one is thankfully alive and luckily sitting among us in this very office..."

Everyone stared at her for a while before Kingsley asked,

"Who Minerva...?"

With a smile McGonagall replied,

"James Potter... Sirius Black... and... Rosalyn Dumbledore..."

Every head other than Rose turned to look at her.

Professor Marchbanks was a bit dazed for a minute, then suddenly as if getting back her bearings she said,

"Wait a minute... I remember... yes... you are right Minerva... how could I forget...? When I tested her at NEWT level transfiguration she outshined both Potter and Black... not to mention... she even did a better job than your and Albus' previous record..."

McGonagall saw a tinge of blush in Rose's cheeks at that proclamation but she didn't say anything.

At her silence Marchbanks addressed her directly,

"Well my dear... once your arrival back into our world is officially announced...Kingsley gave me a few details into that expected announcement... I'm sorry to hear that you were in captivity for so long... Shall I move for your appointment as the new teacher for Transfiguration... subject to complete evaluation and due checking processes of course...? "

Before Rose could reply McGonagall cut her off and added, "I would also like you to be the one to take over the Head duties after I retire Rose... once your appointment is finalized by the board we will arrange to hold a meeting with the other staff members and make your appointment as deputy headmistress official... if you accept that is..."

Rose was now visibly speechless for a while but finally found her voice and replied, "If... everyone is fine with that decision... including the teachers and the board... I'll take on both responsibilities..."

Hearing her response, McGonagall addressed the other people in the office including the portraits, "Anybody has any objections or views about this decision...?"

Nobody spoke at first... then Bill pitched in, "I think she would be a good choice... for one I have seen first-hand how good her transfiguration is back when I was her junior... anybody who is brilliant in the eyes of you Professor McGonagall and you Professor Marchbanks... definitely deserves to follow in your footsteps..."

Fleur smiled at her husband's words, Arthur clapped him on the shoulder and nodded his acceptance to everyone in general as well, as did Molly.

Professor McGonagall turned to the Minister,

"Kingsley...?"

Kingsley also nodded his consent and added,

"No objections... let's move on to the other appointments and vacant posts."

Marchbanks took it from there,

"Right... initially... we will put in advertisements in the prophet for all three teaching posts... Transfiguration... DADA and Muggle Studies... Transfiguration... I'll be really surprised if someone better then Rose is found... but someone good for DADA and Muggle Studies will be an issue... I think we should make sure the Muggle Studies Professor is a muggleborn… but at the same time their teaching abilities should be above average and different than before... otherwise it will be the same as with history... children will not listen to a droning lecturer... I have been meaning to do something about Binns as well..."

"You are right Professor Marchbanks... l suggest we discuss this in detail with the board tomorrow..." replied Professor McGonagall.

Kingsley took up the conversation from there,

"Right... next issue is the Ministry... now even though I have been named Interim Minister... however, it will mean nothing in the long run until it is ratified by the full Wizengmot... because of the war... majority of the heads of departments which were usually enough to complete the approval quorum are dead or in hiding... we will need to call in all senior members of the community like Professor Marchbanks... as well as the Lineage Chair holders... Any suggestions in this regard... Arthur... Professor Marchbanks... Minerva..."

Arthur spoke up first,

"I think all major decisions... in the coming few months... Be it any appointment in the ministry or the trial of a captured death eater, even passing of a new law or amendment of an old one should be taken by the full Wizengmot. My history is not that good… but if I recall... the quorum was developed to speed up process in cases where the full Wizengmot was not necessary... but over the years we have abused that privilege..."

Professor Marchbanks piped up,

"I agree with Arthur... until we have achieved some sort of serenity from the after-effects of this war... a full Wizengmot should be called in for all decisions... be it appointments, trials, passing of new laws as well as amendments in older ones..."

McGonagall then asked a question in general,

"Who are the Lineage Chair Holders...? Wasn't that power removed after the first war when we found out some of those chair holders were death eaters...?"

Arthur replied,

"It was not removed... never removed... in fact it can't be removed... because they are the deciding factors in decisions when consensus cannot be reached with the other regular members... Fudge decided to use the ignorance policy and enjoyed support because of the peacetime... How many families used to hold or which of them still hold is anyone's guess... since we stopped using it... nobody ever really looked into the matter... I would be surprised if anyone has any latest information on who were the last families to hold those chairs..."

Percy cleared his throat and spoke up, "Father...Minister... if I may... I can give you some information on that... as per my last research on this when I was working under Fudge... there are sixty members in the entire Wizengmot... twenty nine are the Heads of Major Departments... Nineteen are senior members holding special positions not linked to the ministry anymore due to various reasons... like resignations and other obligatory duties... One seat is for the present Minister of Magic and One for the Senior Undersecretary to the present Minister... the last ten seats are what used to be called ' _Lineage Seats_ '... they were passed down from generation to generation in the Ten oldest families of the wizarding world... "

Taking a breath he continued...

"As per last records these ten family names once belonged to the ' _Sacred Twenty-Eight_ ' list... which actually used to be ' _Sacred Thirty_ '; however, two families were removed from the list by a majority vote of the other members for marrying muggleborns into their families. These two families were the Potters and McKinnons, but that is a different topic... Out of these sacred families, the first ten oldest families were... McKinnons... Nott... Malfoy... Black... Potter... Shafiq... Lestrange... Crouch... Avery... Yaxley... so even today... if the entire Wizengmot is called to gather... their descendants will be the holders of these positions..."

Everybody stared in awe at Percy except for Professor Marchbanks who smiled and said, "Well done boy... I am impressed..."

McGonagall shared a proud look with Molly over this but not for long as it was interrupted by Bill, "Wow Perce... even I wasn't that knowledgeable and I was head boy... I wish George had been present to hear you–"

"Billlll... " Arthur admonished his eldest but with a smile.

Smiling, Kingsley took the lead to come back to topic, "err... Thank you Percy that was definitely informative... but the next questions that come to mind are... on what basis were the seats stopped from their function by Fudge... can they be brought back into use... if so then what about the seats that belong to the families of known death eaters..."

"I can answer that dear boy..." replied Griselda Marchbanks.

"The law was amended with unanimous consensus of the Wizengmot... lead at the time by Charlus Potter... the then Chief Warlock. As young Percy just explained, the law stated that in case of urgent need to reach a consensus on an issue... that had reached a deadlock... the then Chief may summon the lineage chair holders to intervene. As I remember, Fudge used this old law to his advantage by never letting any issue reach that level and ensuring to resolve it within the ambit of the 50 members... so the need for calling them up went out over time and people forgot... Lucious Malfoy's constant presence at the Ministry during Fudge's time was on account of him having a chair among the Ten... since he was not required to sit in during Fudge's reign, Malfoy used that power and influence to make other inroads in the ministry by way of donations..."

Taking a deep breath and a sip from her cup she continued,

"Yes... They can be brought back to bench by the unanimous consensus of the Wizengmot... and to achieve a unanimous consensus you will need to make the reason for calling them such that nobody can object to a full court requirement. Under the current circumstances... the war having just ended, maladministration of previous ministers, heads of departments either missing, dead or in hiding, some death eaters having escaped and gone into hiding, whilst others captured and awaiting trial... not to mention serious review and changes required in the wizarding law since death eaters took over... these should be enough reasons for an entire wizengmot to be summoned."

"As for known death eaters having a claim to one of those ten chairs... the amendment Charlus made to the law also stated that in such a scenario where the head of the family or a direct member of the family was found to be involved in any illegal activity that is punishable by law… the Chief Warlock may move to strip the family or families... as the case may be... of that seat and its power... and only the remaining lineage seat holders will then decide on who to appoint that seat... that decision must also be unanimous."

Everybody was silent for a while, processing this and then McGonagall spoke up,

"Then by noting the names of the families Percy mentioned, known death eater seats belong to Nott, Malfoy, Crouch... considering the last Crouch was a death eater... Lestrange, Avery and Yaxley... six seats need to be decided upon by the remaining four members... McKinnon... Black... Potter and Shafiq..."

Kingsley nodding his head in a thoughtful manner replied,

"Yes... and out of these four, the McKinnons can claim the seat only after their announcement of being alive... The Black seat currently belongs to Harry due to inheritance... however; when Rose and Anna's lineage is confirmed and with Harry's written consent... they can claim it as well... Potter seat is by lineage Harry's. I don't know what happened to the Shafiq family, whether any from their line is even alive or not... or residing in the country anymore... Professor Marchbanks...?"

Griselda Marchbanks was thoughtful for a while before she looked over at the portrait behind McGonagall,

"Albus...? I believe you may be able to shed some light on that... you were a Chief Warlock…"

Everybody turned to look at the portrait of the late headmaster expectantly. The portrait's occupant cleared his throat and said,

"Yes I believe I can be of some assistance... The Shafiq family changed their surname at the time of Voldemort's rise and moved out of the country... for safety and protection purposes... as per my knowledge they returned upon Voldemort's first fall and the last known descendant of that family is a girl by the name of ' _Audrey Nachman_ '... the rest of the family are no more... Audrey was a Head girl with young Percy here in her time. As for her current whereabouts, I have no clue..."

Percy perked up and straightened immediately upon hearing that and nodded,

"Yes I remember her... though this news of change of surname is a surprise to me... I can try contacting her..."

Kingsley nodded and said,

"You do that immediately Percy... do not provide details in the letter... just inform her about the memorial services planned and request her to come and discuss something important with us afterwards... If it is not too much to ask kindly do that immediately after the end of this meeting...?"

Percy nodded but didn't add anything to it.

McGonagall took up the conversation where she had stopped,

"So... is there a process of recommendation by the whole Wizengmot for the seats or only the Lineage seat holders may decide between themselves...? Is the law foolproof in making sure the non-convicted members of known death eater families won't make a commotion if their families are striped of that privilege...? For example even if Nott Sr. is convicted, Nott Jr. won't be able to contest eligibility to take the seat...?"

"No Minerva... the wording of the law passed by the Wizengmot under Charlus is quite clear... no one from the family can contest to that..." Professor Marchbanks replied while addressing the questions and then added as an afterthought, "But yes the Chief Warlock after being chosen can submit suitable family names to take over the seats... however, the final decision is of the lineage chair holders..."

There was a long silence after this and everybody remained lost in deep thoughts reflecting on everything that had been discussed.

Finally Kingsley spoke up and said,

"Well everyone I believe we should end the discussion here for today... we can summarize our tasks for tomorrow and meet up again at day end to discuss the progress... Minerva you have to teach the trio how to siphon memories after breakfast tomorrow... then we have a meeting with the board of governors for the school hopefully on time... later on we can meet in the evening in the same classroom to see memories that anyone shares including the trio. Meanwhile, I will ensure the proper information is published in tomorrow's morning and evening editions of the prophet regarding the memorial details... I will also try to arrange extra security with the help of foreign dignitaries... Arthur... Percy... I know it is a difficult time for you and your family but I will require a couple of hours of your time in office tomorrow please... Professor Marchbanks you will be kind enough in contacting the board members of the school tomorrow and also contacting all possible wizengmot members to report to the ministry at the earliest... Percy kindly contact Ms Nachman via owl post tonight... would anyone like to add anything to this...?"

Everyone shook their heads and McGonagall replied on everyone's behalf,

"No… I think you have covered everything... Let's call it a day."

***POV change***

Anna after exploring the whole Hogshead and the living accommodations of her great grandfather was tired and decided to sit on the rocking chair near the fireplace. As she sat back and relaxed, she saw a portrait right above the fireplace; suddenly she realized this was her Great Aunt Arianna, her mother used to say she resembled her a bit but Anna never believed her… now... looking at her standing and smiling back at her, Anna could tell that apart from the hair she looked uncannily like her in terms of features.

Not knowing what to say or do at first, Anna decided to respond with a similar smile and said,

"Hi…"

Before Arianna could open her mouth, someone appeared behind her and the portrait started to swing out towards Anna. She sprang to her feet, wand in her hand ready to fight whoever it was, when suddenly a white haired old man climbed out from a hidey hole behind the portrait.

Recognising who it was she lowered her wand.

Aberforth turned around after climbing out, his eyes fell on her and fresh tears of joy sprang in his eyes.

"Oh my dear beautiful girl… come give this old guy a hug…" he said to her with arms wide open.

Seeing the happiness in his eyes and the resemblance to Albus Dumbledore; Anna responded kindly and let her great grandfather envelope her in a tight hug.

*** Chapter End ***


End file.
